PLAYER RATINGS | Lyon 3-2 Crystal Palace: Les Gones edge out Premier League opposition to maintain unbeaten start in Europe

Matchday 2, UEFA Europa League, 15/10/2026

Crystal Palace arrived at the Groupama Stadium hoping to avenge Lyon after they were the reason they were demoted to the UEFA Conference League last season – a competition they eventually won. It was Lyon who came out on top though in an entertaining encounter, winning 3-2, thanks to goals from Corentin Tolisso, Ernest Nuamah and Pavel Šulc.

The match

Crystal Palace had the first opportunity of the game inside 5 minutes. The Premier League club managed to find Strand Larsen in a dangerous area and the Eagles’ record signing attempted a deft flink to try and decieve Greif, but the OL stopper was able to comfortably collect the ball without issue. With Merah operating as a false nine, Les Gones looked to be lacking a focal point in attack. However, Tolisso made sure that wasn’t an issue with the first goal of the game. Canvot failed to deal with a corner played into the near post and chested the ball into the path of the OL captain who made no mistake to fire the ball home with relative ease and give his side the advantage inside the opening 10 minutes.

After the opening goal, things went quiet for 20 minutes. Both teams offered very little in terms of chances in front of goal. Nuamah almost doubled OL’s lead with a looping header from a Tolisso cross. Nevertheless, Benitez was equal to it and was able to punch the ball away to safety. Ismaïla Sarr almost found a breakthrough for Crystal Palace as he met Strand Larsen’s cross. However, he was booked after being adjudged to connect with his hand rather than his head – regardless, Greif was able to turn the ball over the bar to safety.

Nakamura did brilliantly with some quick feet to wrongfoot Richards and find Nuamah, yet the Ghanaian saw his shot blocked in what was good chance to double Lyon’s advantage. The forward would finally have his goal on the stroke of half time. Yet again, Nakamura picked Nuamah out, but this time he made no mistake. He powerfully side-footed the ball home from close distance to double Les Gones’ lead going into the break.

Despite a poor first half, Palace made sure that the second half wasn’t the same. The Premier League club struck inside 5 minutes after the break. Wharton played a defence splitting ball to find Yeremy Pino, who reduced the deficit in half with a smart finish. Following their goal, the East London club looked a completly different outfit. Sarr pushed for an equaliser as he found space on the flank looking for Pino again but Greif was able to cut off his cross with a big hand.

Nuamah almost turned creator as he created Lyon’s first chance of the second half. The forward did well to create space and evade the advances of Mitchell to play cross into the area with which he found Abner. In an advanced position, the Brazilain full back tested Benitez with a header but the former Nice keeper was able to keep the ball out. As Palace advanced forward in their search for an equaliser, Kamada was caught by surprise as he found the ball at his feet in a dangerous position with less than 20 minutes to play. Before the Japanese midfielder could react, Greif had rushed off his line to thwart him and maintain OL’s advanatge.

Against the run of play, Lyon found their two-goal advantage restored in bizarre circumstances. Nuamah found Nakamura as their brilliant understanding in the final third continued, only for the former Reims forward’s shot to fall into the path for Šulc to score his first goal since March with what ended up being a nice flick although he didn’t know too much about it. Lyon didn’t lead by two for long. Morton cleared the ball into the path of the Kamada in the penalty area and the Japanese attacking midfielder applied a simple finish to set up an intruiging end to an entertaining encounter.

Palace went agonisingly close to equalising in the 90th minute. Chris Richards met Wharton’s corner with gusto as he connected with his header, forcing Greif to produce another big save to keep Lyon’s lead intact.

Lyon player ratings

Dominik Greif – 6

Zachary Athekame – 5

Felix Bacher – 5

Ruben Kluivert – 5

Abner Vinicius – 6

Corentin Tolisso – 6

It wasn’t the most imperiuous perfomance from Lyon’s captain, but even when he’s not at his very best, the French midfielder still finds a way to impact the game for his boyhood club. He opened the scoring with quickfire reactions from a corner and led by example on the pitch to secure an important three points for Les Gones.

Tyler Morton – 6

Noah Nartey – 6

Khalis Merah – 6

Keito Nakamura – 7

Ernest Nuamah – 7

The Ghanaian international was certainly Lyon’s brightest spark in an attacking sense. He had multiple chances in front of goal before eventually finding the back of the net to double OL’s half-time lead. In addition to causing problems for the Palace defence, he also created opportunities, forged an impressive understanding with Nakamura, and caused problems for Mitchell.

GFFN | Liam Wraith