Lens vs Lyon: Gradit back from ten months out, Cahuzac’s real debut

Jonathan Gradit played again at Le Mans in early September, then in Monaco. The 33-year-old centre-back had spent ten months out after a closed fracture of the tibia and fibula in his right leg in November 2025. “Three months ago, I still did not know if I would be able to carry on with my career,” he told RMC Sport. A contract termination was even mentioned. The turning point came this summer, after a conversation with sporting director Jean-Louis Leca and the backing of general manager Benjamin Parrot.

On those ten months away from the pitch, he keeps it spare: “Very complicated moments, a lot of loneliness. […] I had to fight my negative thoughts a bit.”

Cahuzac’s real debut

Appointed on 15 September, three days before the defeat in Monaco (1-2), Yannick Cahuzac has managed only one match. The international break handed him two and a half weeks of work before Lyon, enough to lay down his method: “We have started working on a few principles”, runs L’Équipe’s headline.

Gradit is not surprised to see him on the bench: “Franck Haise used to ask Yannick Cahuzac for a lot of advice. That already showed he had that streak in him.” His portrait of the coach: “Tactically, he is very sharp, he studies the opposition a lot.” Olivier Pantaloni, who had him as his assistant at Lorient, adds: “a coach who thinks things through enormously.” The man himself sets the direction: “I really want us to build our own identity, to focus on ourselves.”

The odds still have Lens in front

Turning those principles into points is the next step. Lens sit 15th in Ligue 1, four points from five games, and host Lyon on Friday night, second on eleven points and still unbeaten. The market keeps Bollaert in front: 2.44 for Lens at 1xbet, roughly four wins in ten, the draw at 3.85 with Betano, Lyon at 2.92 with 1xbet, prices taken overnight from Thursday to Friday.

The full read on the match is on our Lens vs Lyon page.