Coupe de France 2019/20: Lyon vs PSG – tactical analysis

Lyon hosted PSG on Wednesday evening in what was the first of two Coupe de France semi-finals to have taken place this week. Les Parisiens booked their place in the 2019/20 Coupe de France final as they registered a dominant 5-1 win in their semi-final fixture. 

Despite losing Wednesday’s fixture by four goals in the end, Lyon delivered a performance that they may be able to have taken some pride in throughout the majority of this game. The two teams were tied at a scoreline of 1-1 up until Lyon defender Fernando Marçal received a 61st-minute red card, after which PSG bagged four of their five goals in an eventful final 30 minutes. 

This tactical analysis piece will examine the tactics that were deployed by both of these two sides in Wednesday’s Coupe de France semi-final. In this tactical analysis piece, we will analyse the Lyon tactics that successfully kept them level with PSG up until their catastrophic red card as well as PSG’s ultimately successful tactics from Wednesday’s fixture. 

Lineups and formations

Rudi Garcia’s Lyon lined up in a 4-1-4-1 shape for this fixture. Lucas Tousart and Houssem Aouar played as a pair of ‘8’s in front of Lyon’s January signing Bruno Guimarães who played in the holding midfield role for this game. Meanwhile, Martin Terrier and Karl Toko Ekambi played on either side of the midfield as Lyon’s wingers in this game.

Lyon’s midfield five played a vital role in the defensive side of Lyon’s game in this recent fixture. The shape of their midfield was important for helping them to maintain a numerical superiority to their opponents in the centre of the park. In addition to that, Lyon’s midfield played a crucial role in thwarting their opponent’s attempts at building out from the back at times in this fixture.