Lyon welcomes Rennes to the Groupama Stadium for the early kick off in Ligue One this Sunday. A win in this tie would be crucial for both teams as they both continue to push for the last spots in European football next season.
The hosts have suffered a somewhat poor season this year, sitting ninth in the table, eight points off of the final European spot. If they fail to make at least one of the European competitions it will be their second consecutive year outside the top competitions, a worrying trend for the side. In their 29 games this season, Lyon have 12 wins, eight draws and nine losses, leaving them tied on 44 points with Lorient. However, Lyon do find themselves in the French Cup Semi-final against Nantes, the Wednesday before this clash.
In their last five Ligue One games, Lyon have two wins and three draws. In their final game in February, Lyon secured a 3 - 1 win over bottom of the table Angers with goals from Thiago Mendes, Amin Sarr and Bradley Barcola. Next came a run of three draws, a 0 - 0 against Lorient, a 3 - 3 thriller against Lille in which Barcola’s goal and Alexandre Lacazette’s double managed to cancel out Lille’s Jonathan David’s hattrick and a 1 - 1 draw against Nantes after an early own goal by Castello Lukeba. In their most recent Ligue 1 game, Lyon pulled off a win over defending champions and champions elect PSG. Barcola’s second-half goal was enough to grab Lyon the win.
Rennes have had a positive season thus far, though still have some work to do if they want to qualify directly into Europe rather than the qualifying rounds. The visitors currently sit in sixth place, two points adrift from the Europa Conference League Qualifiers and seven points off of the Europa League Group Stage. Despite having the same number of losses as Lyon this season, nine, Rennes have picked up 15 wins and just five draws, five wins from their 20 wins last season.
The visitors have two wins, a draw and two losses in their last five Ligue One games. A first-half Jeremy Doku goal gave Rennes a 1 - 0 win over Nantes in the closing days of February, though Rennes would then have to wait until the 19th of March for their next win. Rennes slumped to a 1 - 0 loss against third-place Marseille thanks to a Sead Kolasinac goal and then drew 0 - 0 with relegation threatened Auxerre. Their next win was a big one with goals from Karl Toko Ekambi and Arnaud Kalimuendo giving Rennes a 2 - 0 win over top of the league PSG. However, the subsequent visit from second-place Lens saw them take all three points from Rennes after the single goal from Lois Openda.
This tie has been relatively close through the histories of the clubs. In the 35 times they’ve met, Rennes have taken the win on 13 occasions whereas Lyon have won 11 times, leaving 11 of those encounters as draws.