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Lyon hold off Crystal Palace's second-half fightback to win 3-2 in the Europa League
Lyon beat Crystal Palace 3-2 in the Europa League, holding a 2-0 half-time lead until Palace pulled two goals back after the break.
By FootieRadar Desk · Published · 2 min read
Lyon were two goals up at half-time at the Groupama Stadium on Thursday 15 October, but they had to hold on for a 3-2 win over Crystal Palace. It was their second win in as many League Stage matches, and it leaves them eighth in the table.
Palace came in on the back of a 3-1 Premier League win over Nottingham Forest on 11 October. They pulled two goals back after the break, but the comeback fell one goal short.
How the goals came
Corentin Tolisso opened the scoring in the 8th minute. Ernest Nuamah doubled Lyon's lead in first-half added time (45+2), with Keito Nakamura providing the assist, and that goal gave Lyon their interval cushion.
Palace responded straight after the restart. Yeremy Pino reduced the deficit in the 50th minute, with Adam Wharton setting him up. Nakamura then assisted Pavel Šulc in the 76th minute to restore the two-goal lead. Daichi Kamada made it 3-2 in the 81st minute, but Palace could not find an equaliser.
| Lyon | Crystal Palace | |
|---|---|---|
| 51% | Possession | 49% |
| 11 | Shots | 12 |
| 4 | Shots on target | 4 |
| 2.12 | Expected goals (xG) | 1.62 |
| 5 | Corners | 3 |
| 4 | Fouls | 8 |
| 1 | Yellow cards | 3 |
| 8th | League position now | 15th |
What the numbers say
The shot counts were close, with Lyon taking 11 shots to Palace's 12, and both sides hit the target four times. The gap was in chance quality. Lyon's expected-goals figure was 2.12 against Palace's 1.62, and Lyon turned their four on-target efforts into three goals.
Possession was almost level at 51% for Lyon and 49% for Palace. Lyon had five corners to Palace's three, but Palace committed twice as many fouls (eight to four) and picked up three yellow cards to Lyon's one. Lyon's keeper made two saves to Palace's one, and no red cards were shown.
Where it leaves them
Lyon are eighth on six points from two matches, and they have led since the 8th minute. The late Palace pressure never moved the scoreline back in their favour.
Palace are 15th on three points, with one win and one defeat so far. The numbers favour Lyon's chance quality, but Palace's second-half response shows they can score on the road.
Data: API-Football (result, goals, cards, match statistics, line-ups, standings). Written by the FootieRadar desk with AI assistance and checked against the match data. How our predictions work.
