PSG vs Lyon: substitutes decide it, Luis Enrique draws level with Laurent Blanc

PSG beat Lyon 2-0 at the Parc des Princes on Monday night and stand alone at the top of Ligue 1, on 17 points after eight rounds. Lyon stay fifth on 14. Both goals came off the bench: Lucas Hernandez, on as a substitute, set up Mika Godts, who put Senny Mayulu in position to shoot; Quentin Ndjantou, also on from the bench, found Godts for the second. Lyon had won their last visit to the Parc in April (1-2). This time their block held until the substitutions.

Paris were without Ousmane Dembélé (thigh) and Khvicha Kvaratskhelia (knee). Luis Enrique dedicated the win to the Georgian: “I want to take this chance to tell you that we would like to dedicate this victory to Kvara.” On these young players’ game time, he was blunt: “They deserve to play more minutes, it is hard to get a game in this team.” And on one of them: “Ndjantou, for example, is a Formula 1 car, a machine!”

126 wins, level with Laurent Blanc

This was Luis Enrique’s 126th win on the Paris bench. According to Opta, cited by So Foot, no PSG coach has won more: he draws level with Laurent Blanc. The club had just been named “club of the season” at the Ballon d’Or ceremony. “Did we win that one?”, the Spaniard joked, before thanking the supporters.

“We caused PSG more defensive problems than Barcelona and City”

Lyon leave the Parc with a second defeat of the week, after the 3-0 at Hoffenheim on Thursday in the Europa League. Paulo Fonseca owned it at the Ligue 1+ microphone: “It is really complicated to play against PSG. We put in a good tactical performance, but the quality of PSG’s players made the difference. I am happy with my team’s level and with my players’ attitude.” Then he went one step further: “We caused PSG more defensive problems than Barcelona and City.” The results back him up: PSG had beaten Barcelona (4-2) and Manchester City (4-2) in the Champions League, and managed only two goals against Lyon. Luis Enrique returned the compliment: “Paulo Fonseca is a quality coach, he always causes us problems and he puts a lot of players through the middle.”

For the punter, this scoreline settles the bet in our PSG vs Lyon prediction: Lyon +1.5 on the Asian handicap, taken at 1.84 with 1xbet before kick-off, is a loser, with PSG winning by two goals. Paris travel to Le Havre on Friday, Lyon host Angers on Saturday.