Overview
Lyon is in an advantage after a 1-1 draw at Fenerbahce in the first leg of the Champions League play-offs. Lois Openda helped the away team open the score, before the Turkish representative found an equalizer.
Lyon once reached the Champions League semi-finals in 2019, where they stopped before Bayern Munich. After a difficult period, the French team is gradually regaining its position. Last season, Les Gones finished fourth in Ligue 1 and reached the round of 16 of the Europa League under the guidance of Paulo Fonseca.
Fonseca had experience working at Shakhtar Donetsk and Roma, and also led Lyon to overcome Sparta Prague in the third qualifying round of this season's Champions League. Lyon won 3-0 at home in the second leg after losing the first leg, and then continued to defeat Toulouse 2-0 on the opening day of Ligue 1.
Champions League qualifying history also provides a basis for Lyon to be confident. They have won 5 of the last 6 matches in the qualifiers of the tournament. Lyon has also won against Fenerbahce 4 times in the Champions League group stage before, while the last time the two teams met in the Europa League season 2024-2025 ended with a score of 0-0.
Meanwhile, Fenerbahce is very eager to return to the Champions League group stage. Since participating in the qualifiers for the sixth time in 2008, the Turkish team has failed to pass this round 9 times.
Last season, Fenerbahce was eliminated from the Champions League by Benfica. That result led to the departure of Jose Mourinho and paved the way for Domenico Tedesco to take over the team. However, Fenerbahce continued to disappoint when Galatasaray surpassed them in the Super Lig championship race.
Tedesco was then replaced by Ismail Kartal. Under this coach, Fenerbahce successively overcame Gornik Zabrze and Sturm Graz in the second and third qualifying rounds before encountering problems in the domestic league.
Fenerbahce unexpectedly lost 1-2 to Genclerbirligi in the opening match of the Super Lig, even though Talisca scored in the fifth consecutive match. The defeat to Lyon further increased the pressure, but the 4-2 victory over Konyaspor helped Kartal and his students somewhat regain confidence before the second leg.
Personnel situation
Tyler Morton and captain Corentin Tolisso are expected to return to the main squad on the home team's side.
Moussa Niakhate is having ankle problems and is likely to be sidelined. In the opposite direction, Lyon welcomes good news when Pavel Sulc has recovered from a knee injury, and Nicolas Tagliafico is also ready to play after the post-World Cup break.
On Fenerbahce's side, Ismail Kartal still has to consider the striker arrangement option. Romelu Lukaku and Vedat Muriqi both have good physiques, while Talisca is likely to be used as a false striker, behind him is Marco Asensio.
Talisca has scored 4 of Fenerbahce's 6 goals in the Champions League qualifiers and just scored one more goal in the Super Lig. Nene Doregles is also a noteworthy option after coming on as a substitute in the first leg.
In defense, Jayden Oosterwolde is preparing to move to Roma, Caglar Soyuncu is having muscle problems, and goalkeeper Mert Gunok continues to be absent due to injury.
Expected lineup:
Greif, Maitland-Niles, Mata, Kluivert, Abner, Morton, Tolisso, Nuamah, Sulc, Fofana, Openda.
Ederson, Semedo, Skriniar, Ake, Brown, Kante, Guendouzi, Greenwood, Asensio, Akturkoglu, Talisca.
The match between Lyon and Fenerbahce takes place at 2:00 AM on August 27 (Vietnam time).
