Olympique Lyonnais rounded off their preparations for the 2025-26 season with a 2-1 win over Spanish La Liga side Getafe in a friendly match at the Stade Pierre-Rajon in Bourgoin-Jallieu. The venue was the scene of one of the lowest points of Lyon’s previous campaign, when they crashed out of the Coupe de France in the Round of 32 last January. That defeat on penalties to National 3 (fifth tier) outfit FC Bourgoin-Jallieu contributed to manager Pierre Sage receiving his marching orders a few days later, to be replaced by Paulo Fonseca.
Fonseca appears to have whipped his players into good shape over the summer and the friendly results have been encouraging. This win will provide a final boost to their confidence ahead of the trip to Lens on the opening weekend of Ligue 1. Getafe are no mugs, having finished 13th in La Liga last season and they provided a stern test for Fonseca’s new-look line-up. New signing Tyler Morton made his debut, having recently arrived from Liverpool, and another addition, Czech midfielder Pavel Šulc was on the bench.
Lyon got off to a decent start in front of around 5,000 fans on a hot afternoon and had an early chance through Mikautadze. Then youngster Khalis Merah won a penalty in the 24th minute and Mikautadze stepped up to take it. His initial effort was saved, but he reacted fastest to stick away the rebound and open the scoring. The Spanish team equalised in the 39th minute courtesy of a penalty at the other end after a foul by Moussa Niakhaté and it was all square at the interval.
Georgian striker Georges Mikautadze was in the thick of the action again in the second half when he won the third penalty of the game. Getafe’s Togolese defender Djené was shown a straight red card for the foul in the box and this time Ainsley Maitland-Niles stepped up to convert from the spot. Šulc made his club debut, replacing Fofana in the 78th minute and Lyon held on to win 2-1.
Lyon had begun their pre-season fixtures with a 1-0 win against lowly Villefranche Beaujolais behind closed doors at their training centre on the 19th of July. Corentin Tolisso got the only goal from the penalty spot. They followed that with a 0-0 draw against sister club RWDM Brussels (formerly Molenbeek) at the same venue.
Lyon suddenly found their form in front of goal the following weekend with a spectacular 4-0 win against Hamburger SV away at the Volksparkstadion. Newly promoted back to the 1. Bundesliga, 45,757 fans turned up to see them outclassed over two halves of sixty minutes apiece by a ruthless Lyon. Fofana, Maitland-Niles and Mikautadze did the initial damage with goals in the first period before wholesale changes to the line-up for the second mini match. Newly signed Portuguese winger Afonso Moreira got the fourth goal to rub salt into the wound.
Fonseca then took the squad away to a training camp in Kufstein, Austria where they met Spanish side Mallorca in a midweek friendly. Lyon resumed where they’d left off in Germany and took the lead through Brazilian left-back Abner Vinícius. Mikautadze, Abner again and then Khalis Merah added further goals before half-time to seal another 4-0 win for the rampant Gones.
Lyon’s only defeat of pre-season came away at the Allianz Arena on the 2nd of August when they faced a strong Bayern Munich team. Bayern’s french star Michael Olise scored a brace to put them in the driving seat and they hung on for the win despite a late consolation goal from Alejandro Gomes Rodríguez.
So, Lyon can look back on four wins, a draw and one defeat from their six pre-season matches. Twelve goals scored and only three conceded looks great on paper and hopefully they can carry that form into the new season. They have been highly active in the transfer market and we may see more player arrivals and possibly departures too before the transfer window closes. However, it looks as though they have the basis of a squad to at least compete in Ligue 1, and that wasn’t a given just a few weeks ago when the threat of administrative relegation was still hanging over their head.