Parisians lose in Lyon

A prestigious encounter between two institutions of women's football, a duel at the top of the table that has become unmissable over the years: Paris Saint-Germain met Olympique Lyonnais at the Groupama Stadium. For this tricky away fixture, Fabrice Abriel was forced to reshuffle his starting eleven. Without a number of key players, including captain Paulina Dudek, Griedge Mbock, Elisa de Almeida and Sakina Karchaoui, the Paris Saint-Germain coach opted for a hybrid formation with Romée Leuchter up front, supported by Jennifer Echegini.

Unsurprisingly, this meeting produced an intense and hotly contested game. Supported by their fans, the Rhone outfit had every intention of pushing the Parisians to the wall. For the Rouge et Bleu, the first task was to resist Lyon's onslaughts, while at the same time getting forward in numbers to take advantage of every opportunity they had.

In this game of chess, it was unfortunately Lyon who dominated. Despite an interesting situation for Romée Leuchter (15‘) and a powerful shot from Korbin Albert that was well saved by Christiane Endler (26’), the Groupama Stadium residents found the opening just as our Parisians were starting to get braver... In the wake of this Parisian attack, an explosive counter-attack led to Tabitha Chawinga scoring with her left foot (1-0, 27').

From then on, Fabrice Abriel's players were faced with a real dilemma: they had to respond, but it meant being more exposed against a Lyon side that was very dangerous when attacking in behind. It was a problem that was evident a number of times, with several clear-cut chances before half-time for the home side, including Damaris hitting the post (32') and Renard hitting the bar (45'+3)...

The issues remained after the break. Standing firm, the Rouge et Bleu once again had to withstand the onslaught of their opponents, who were as threatening as ever in their fast attacking moves, led by old acquaintances such as Kadidiatou Diani. Mary Earps was being kept busy but rose to the occasion. In the air, on the ground, in her runs to cover deep or her reflexes on the line, the England international produced a string of fine saves (56', 68', 73'). By staying in the game, our Parisians kept their hopes alive. In attack, Fabrice Abriel made the most of his options, throwing on Marie-Antoinette Katoto after the break.

Paris Saint-Germain never gave up. MAK struggled to create any real danger, but was also proving invaluable in her own penalty area in dangerous moments, with two heroic blocks (64', 74'). The lines were stretched even further in an action-packed final half-hour in which fatigue had taken its toll on both sides, but the score remained the same.

At the end of a high-level encounter, Paris Saint-Germain fell to defeat at the Groupama Stadium. It was the first league defeat of the season for the Rouge et Bleu, who had been unbeaten so far in the Arkema Première Ligue campaign. The Parisians' ambitions remain unchanged, and the next stage of their schedule will take place at the PSG Campus, when they host Racing Club de Strasbourg on 9 November.