Unlocking the Upset: Fleury’s brilliant out-of-possession play that dethroned Lyon in Coupe de France – tactical analysis

Last weekend, the Coupe de France Féminine semi-finals took place with the Paris derby on Sunday. Saturday’s game between Lyon and Fleury was expected to be a routine victory for European giants Lyon. However, we would be wrong to assume anything.

This tactical analysis will explore the critical tactics involved in this victory. Although this analysis will first focus on the game, let’s provide some context to the two teams. 

Lyon has been at the forefront of Womens football for the last decade, winning a record sixteen of the last Division 1 Féminine titles. Alongside their national dominance, they have achieved similar levels of success on the European stage, winning a record eight Champions League titles, all coming since the 2010-11 season.

While Lyon has been dominant in France, Fleury has had a very different history, having formed in 2003 as FCF Val d’Orge. It was then rebranded as Fleury 91 in 2017, as a result of being promoted to Division 1 Féminine to attach themselves to the men’s side. With the appointment of Fabrice Abriel in 2021 Fleury has gone from strength to strength and established itself as the fourth-best team in France for the past two seasons and sits in fourth place again this season. This result is perhaps the biggest scalp of their relatively new history.

This match analysis will focus on the defensive tactics Abriel used to defeat one of Europes premier sides.

Lineups

In this game, Lyon lined up in a 4-3-3 formation, which they have done for the majority of Sonia Bompastor’s reign.

Along the backline, the notable names missing were club captain and icon Wendie Renard, who is still recovering from an injury from 16th December, which she had to undergo surgery—in addition to Renard missing, Lyon also missed Canadian international Vanessa Gilles, who was still returning from CONCACAF Gold Cup. So, in the centre of the defence, they were forced to start Griedge Mbock Bathy alongside the young Alice Sombath, who has typically played as a full-back this season. At fullback, Lyon started with Australian international Ellie Carpenter on the right and France international Selma Bacha on the left.