Olympique Lyonnais – Paris Saint-Germain: On Their Day, Lyon Can Beat Anybody (2-1)

What a game of football this was! After grabbing the lead within the first ten minutes, PSG were blown away by Lyon’s attacking power, before clawing themselves back into the match at the fifty-minute mark. Lyon – uncharacteristically – put in a fine defensive shift and held on to the lead to deal PSG their first Ligue 1 defeat since early May.

Tactical analysis and match report by Erik Elias.

The league table in France looks quite disjointed, as some teams have played 21 games, some have played 22, and some have played 23. The differences are caused by les gilets jaunes, a group of protesters that took the streets in early December to protest against a set of economic reforms announced by France’s prime minister Emmanuel Macron.

Since some people perceive their weekly visit to a football stadium as an event to fight other people, there were not enough police officers in France to simultaneously deal with these two highly dangerous events: a) football matches and b) thousands of angry civilians on the streets in Paris. So, a lot of games were called off. It did not affect the league table at the very top, however. Going into this match on Sunday evening, PSG enjoyed a ten-point lead over second-placed Lille with three matches in hand.

Not suggesting riots and setting stuff on fire here - as les gilets jaunes have done - but Ligue 1 could use some stern opposition against its unapologetic leader too. This season’s demise of Monaco and Marseille leaves Lyon as . . .