Lyon v Benfica facts

A late Pizzi goal gave Benfica the points against Lyon on Matchday 3, meaning the Portuguese club travel to France for the return fixture with renewed hope of progressing from Group G.

• Rudi Garcia's first European match as Lyon coach looked set to finish all square after Memphis Depay – with his third goal in as many games – cancelled out a fourth-minute Rafa Silva strike, but with four minutes left in Lisbon a misdirected throw from OL goalkeeper Anthony Lopes gave Pizzi the chance to give Benfica their first win in this season's UEFA Champions League.

• Benfica therefore have three points in the standings, one less than both Lyon and Zenit, with Leipzig leading the way on six points.

Previous meetings
• Both sides won their home game when the teams met in the 2010/11 UEFA Champions League group stage. Lyon were 2-0 victors at the Stade de Gerland on Matchday 3 thanks to goals from Jimmy Briand and Lisandro López.

• Benfica turned the tables with a 4-3 success in Lisbon, Fábio Coentrão scoring what proved to be the winner, his second goal of the game, in the 67th minute before Lyon scored three times in the final 16 minutes.

• Lyon finished second in the section behind Schalke and went on to lose to Real Madrid in the round of 16. Having finished third, Benfica went into the UEFA Europa League round of 32, then going on to the semi-finals before losing to fellow Portuguese side Braga.

Form guide
Lyon
• A Depay penalty earned Lyon a share of the points against Zenit on Matchday 1, before Depay and Martin Terrier, with his first European goal, secured a 2-0 win at Leipzig. Defeat at Benfica was only Lyon's third loss in their last 15 European matches (W5 D7).

• Third in Ligue 1 last season, this is Lyon's 16th UEFA Champions League group campaign – four more than any other French club – and fourth in five seasons.

• Les Gones won their first game in last season's UEFA Champions League, 2-1 at Manchester City, before drawing the next five and qualifying for the round of 16 with a 1-1 draw at Shakhtar Donetsk on matchday six. A 5-1 second-leg loss at Barcelona in the round of 16 ended their interest in last season's competition.

• All three of Lyon's home group games last season finished 2-2, against Shakhtar, Hoffenheim and Manchester City. Matchday 1 made it five successive home European draws.

• A 3-2 defeat by CSKA Moskva in the 2017/18 UEFA Europa League round of 16 is Lyon's only home reverse in 15 European contests (W7 D7), since a 1-0 UEFA Champions League group loss to Juventus in October 2016.

• OL's last home game against a Portuguese club came in the 2013/14 UEFA Europa League group stage, a 1-1 draw against Vitória SC. They have won only two of their last seven matches against Portuguese sides, home and away (D2 L3).

• Lyon were UEFA Champions League semi-finalists in 2010.

Benfica
• Despite beating Lyon last time out, defeats at home by Leipzig on Matchday 1 (1-2) and at Zenit on Matchday 2 (1-3) mean Benfica have won only three of their last 16 matches in the UEFA Champions League, group stage to final (D1 L12).

• In 2018/19 Benfica finished third behind Bayern München and Ajax in Group E, moving into the UEFA Europa League having picked up seven points. They went on to beat Galatasaray (2-1 aggregate) and Dinamo Zagreb (3-1 aggregate) only to succumb to Eintracht Frankfurt on away goals in the quarter-finals (4-2 h, 0-2 a).

• Benfica have been defeated in 14 of their last 26 European fixtures.

• Despite victories at PAOK, AEK and Galatasaray last season, Benfica have won only three of their last 14 fixtures outside Portugal (D2 L9).

• However, Benfica have now won eight of their last 12 fixtures with French clubs (D2 L2), home and away; they have lost only two of their last six games in France (D2 L2). Their last away game against a Ligue 1 club brought a goalless draw at Monaco in the 2014/15 UEFA Champions League group stage.

• Champions of Portugal for a record 37th time last season, Benfica are in the group stage for the 15th time, although only five of those previous 14 campaigns have extended into the last 16; they also reached the quarter-finals direct in 1994/95.

• The Lisbon giants have reached seven European Cup finals, winning the trophy in 1961 and 1962.

Links and trivia
• Has played in Portugal:
Fernando Marçal (Torreense 2010–12, Nacional 2012–15)

• Marçal was a Benfica player between 2015 and 2017 but never played for the first team, spending time on loan at Turkish club Gaziantepspor and Guingamp in France before signing for Lyon. He played against Benfica eight times while in Portugal, all for Nacional (D1 L7), and was sent off in a 2-2 home draw against the Eagles in February 2013.

• Have played in France:
Adel Taarabt (Lens 2004–06)
Carlos Vinícius (Monaco 2019 (loan))

• Have played together:
Moussa Dembélé & Adel Taarabt (Fulham 2013)

• International team-mates:
Anthony Lopes & André Almeida (Portugal U21)
Anthony Lopes & André Almeida, Rúben Dias, Pizzi, Rafa Silva, Gedson Fernandes (Portugal)

• Rafa Silva and Anthony Lopes were part of the victorious Portugal squad at UEFA EURO 2016 in France.

• Rafa Silva was a late substitute in Portugal's 1-0 win against the Netherlands, for whom Depay played 90 minutes, in the UEFA Nations League final on 9 June.

• Andrija Živković and Youssouf Koné traded goals in Serbia's 2-1 defeat of Mali in the 2015 FIFA U-20 World Cup semi-finals, with Mali's Koné sent off in extra time.

Latest news

Lyon
• Having lost their previous two away games, OL were 3-2 winners at Toulouse on Saturday, Memphis Depay scoring twice – including the winner five minutes into added time – and Moussa Dembélé once.

• Lyon have 16 points after 12 league games in 2019/20, five less than at the same point last season.

• Lyon parted company with coach Sylvinho on 7 October, the day after a 1-0 defeat at local rivals St-Étienne. Rudi Garcia took over as the Brazilian's replacement on 14 October and recorded his first win in his third fixture, defeating Metz 2-0 at home on 26 October.

• Dembélé and Depay secured victory against Metz, ending Lyon's run of eight Ligue 1 games without a win (D4 L4). That was Lyon's longest streak without a league win in a single season since August–October 1977.

• OL were seven games without a win in all competitions (D4 L3) prior to their Matchday 2 victory at Leipzig, their longest run without a victory since an eight-game sequence between March and May 1996.

• Lyon scored nine goals without conceding in their first two Ligue 1 games of the season, winning 3-0 at Monaco before beating Angers 6-0.

• The defeat of Angers was Lyon's biggest home league win since an 8-1 victory against Le Mans on 13 May 2006.

• Dembélé (eight) and Depay (seven) have scored 15 of Lyon's 19 league goals so far this season.

• On 28 October, Lyon announced Garcia's long-time fitness coach Paolo Rongoni was joining the club's staff.

• Fernando Marçal (thigh) has not played since 19 October.

Benfica
• The Eagles have kicked off their defence of the Liga title with nine wins in ten matches, suffering only one defeat – a 2-0 loss at home to Porto on 24 August.

• That defeat ended Benfica's 11-match winning run in the league; they have won 18 of their last 19 matches in the competition, beating Rio Ave 2-0 at home on Saturday.

• Benfica have scored 53 goals in their last 17 league matches.

• The Lisbon club have kept eight clean sheets in the league this season, including six in their last seven matches.

• A 1-0 win at Tondela on 27 October was a 25th Liga win for Bruno Lage, in his 27th match in charge – the fastest coach to that mark in Benfica's history.

• Carlos Vinícius scored twice in the 4-0 home victory against Portimonense on 30 October and now has four goals in his last five matches.

• Pizzi, who scored Benfica's second against Rio Ave on Saturday, has 12 goals in 15 club appearances in all competitions this season.

• Rafa Silva was out between Matchday 2 and 3 with an adductor problem; he scored the opening goal against Lyon but was forced off by a thigh injury midway through the first half and is likely to be out for the rest of the year.

• Raúl De Tomás has missed Benfica's last three games due to an ankle sprain.

• Chiquinho came on as a second-half substitute against Tondela, his first appearance  since the Porto match on 24 August due to a thigh problem.

• A thigh injury meant André Almeida did not play between 28 September and 27 October.

• Germán Conti is fit after recovering from a thigh injury but is yet to feature in a game this season.

• Benfica will face third division Vizela in the last 32 of the Portuguese Cup on 23 November.

• On 17 October Ferro extended his contract until June 2024.

• Benfica won the Portuguese Super Cup on 4 August with a 5-0 win against Lisbon rivals Sporting CP.