This Sunday at 8:45 pm (CET) Paris Saint-Germain (1st) will face Olympique Lyonnais (5th) at the Parc des Princes as part of the 30th matchday of Ligue 1 2025-2026. In a press conference, Lyon coach Paulo Fonseca spoke about this match and their Parisian opponent.
Fonseca will have to do without five players.
What’s the latest on the squad?
“We continue to face problems. We won’t have Corentin Tolisso: the last two matches were already a risk, but he played. He’s a player we need to win, but he won’t be ready for PSG.
Pavel (Sulc) and Malick (Fofana) won’t be there either. Ernest (Nuamah) has a minor issue, but he should be back next week. Corentin Tolisso is also expected back next week.”
Fonseca: “We played a good match at home, despite numerous absences.”
The keys to the match?
“PSG is in its best form of the season; they’re really very strong right now. Let’s not forget that they didn’t have a preseason and that they’ve had physical problems with several injuries. Today, they have their full squad available and are in a very good run of form.
We played a good match at home, despite numerous absences. We also had a lot of injuries, but we managed to be solid, both defensively and offensively.
Fonseca: “I’m confident in the players we have and in the strategy we’ve prepared for this match.”
The first objective will be to defend well against a very mobile team. We need to be solid in order to then create attacking opportunities. We’ve worked a lot on the defensive side. It’s no different from other matches, except for the tactical preparation.
I think the players who played in the first match haven’t forgotten. I talked to them again about the match we played. I’m confident in the players we have and in the “The strategy we’ve prepared for this match.”
This isn’t ideal for Lyon, who are approaching this difficult and important match with a wave of absences in attack. There are still options in the squad, and Paris shouldn’t get too comfortable. But these are obstacles for OL. We’ve clearly seen that in their recent results.
They need to find their attacking efficiency despite everything, because the end of the season is approaching and the race for European qualification remains very tight. Obviously, traveling to the Parc des Princes needing points isn’t ideal. Fonseca doesn’t hide the fact that it will be a complicated evening against a PSG side that’s back in form.
However, there’s no question of giving up. There’s the match last November (a 2-3 victory for PSG) to draw on their ability to resist. The Lyon coach doesn’t forget to point out that his squad wasn’t at full strength even then. Even though he doesn’t mention that the Parisian squad was also severely depleted.
In any case, being afraid would be pointless. It leads nowhere. You have to give your all, with the best possible plan. Lyon has undoubtedly prepared for this match thoroughly and will approach it with the desire to pull off a major upset. All the while knowing that the task is difficult. It’s also a particularly exciting evening, facing the European champions. It’s up to the latter to approach the match well in order to minimize the risk of an unpleasant surprise in their title race.
