Olympique Lyonnais–Stade Rennais: Lyon’s Attacking Mobility Tears Rennes’ Man-Oriented Defence Apart (4-0)

In a clash between two Ligue 1 teams who were unbeaten up to that point, Olympique Lyonnais comfortably got the better of Stade Rennais with a 4-0 win, with goals from Corentin Tolisso, Zachary Athekame and a brace from Ernest Nuamah. Rennes had their chances but were fooled and destabilised by Lyon’s highly coordinated counter-movements.

Tactical analysis and match report by André Martins.

You could say it was kinda a lost bet for Franck Haise. The Rennes coach went all-in on his objective of starting the Europa League campaign with a win, but could only draw against Sturm Graz. On Saturday, he rotated against Lyon and suffered his first defeat of the season. Paulo Fonseca did something similar, but the outcome was very different. OL remain unbeaten, with three wins and two draws, and are guaranteed to spend the upcoming international break in the top three.

For this fixture, which has regularly produced spectacular games — none of the last 11 meetings have ended in a draw, with the winning team scoring at least three goals in ten of those encounters — Rennes lined up in a 4-1-4-1 shape. Brice Samba in goal, behind a back four of Przemysław Frankowski, Charlie Cresswell, Abdelhamid Aït Boudlal and Quentin Merlin. Valentin Rongier as the holding midfielder behind a midfield of Arnaud Nordin, Adrien Thomasson, Mahdi Camara and Eliezer Mayenda. Boulaye Dia up front. Regular starters Ludovic Blas, Mousa Al-Tamari and Estéban Lepaul started on the bench.

Lyon lined up in a 4-2-3-1 that most often acted as a 4-3-3. Goalkeeper Dominik Greif was protected by Zachary . . .