Lyon v Leipzig facts

Lyon take on Leipzig looking to join their visitors in the UEFA Champions League round of 16, while the German club have their sights set on first place in Group G.

• Leipzig lost 2-0 at home to Lyon on Matchday 2 – Memphis Depay and Martin Terrier with the goals in what was the teams' first meeting – but that is their sole defeat in the group, with progress to the knockout rounds for the first time assured on Matchday 5. Julian Nagelsmann's side will secure first place with a draw or win in France.

• Lyon have seven points, level with Zenit and three ahead of Benfica. OL will go through if they beat Leipzig, in which case they would also clinch first place, or if they draw and Zenit lose at Benfica; a defeat would eliminate the French side from the competition – and from Europe altogether if Benfica defeat Zenit.

Form guide
Lyon
• Held 1-1 at home by Zenit on Matchday 1, Lyon won their second home game 3-1 against Benfica on Matchday 4. After wining at Leipzig, they lost their next two away matches, 2-1 at Benfica and, most recently, 2-0 at Zenit on Matchday 5.

• Despite those defeats at Benfica and Zenit, Lyon have lost only four of their last 17 European matches (W6 D7).

• When Lyon's Rayan Cherki came on as a substitute at Zenit, he became, at the age of 16 years 102 days, the second youngest player to appear in the UEFA Champions League – after Celestine Babayaro, who was aged 16 years 87 days when he played for Anderlecht against Olympiacos in November 1994.

• 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 6. 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 before the defeat of Benfica.

• A 3-2 defeat by CSKA Moskva in the 2017/18 UEFA Europa League round of 16 is Lyon's only home reverse in 16 European contests (W8 D7), since a 1-0 UEFA Champions League group loss to Juventus in October 2016.

• The French club have won only one of their last four home games against German clubs but have won seven of the 13 such contests overall (D2 L4).

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

Leipzig
• Leipzig have won both away games in this season's group stage, triumphing 2-1 at Benfica on Matchday 1 and 2-0 at Zenit on Matchday 4. At home, they bounced back from losing to Lyon by defeating Zenit 2-1 and last time out drew 2-2 with Benfica, Emil Forsberg scoring twice from the 90th minute onwards to rescue an unlikely point that secured progress.

• Leipzig have won five of their 11 UEFA Champions League fixtures (D2 L4).

• Third in the Bundesliga last season and German Cup finalists, this is Leipzig's third European campaign, and only their 30th match. In 2017/18 they became the first team to make their European debut in the UEFA Champions League group stage, when they picked up seven points to finish third in a section including Beşiktaş, Porto and Monaco. They went on to reach the UEFA Europa League quarter-finals before losing to Marseille.

• Two years ago Leipzig lost at Beşiktaş (0-2) and Porto (1-3), but did record a 4-1 success at Monaco to claim their first European away victory.

• Leipzig's only other trip to France after that victory at Monaco was a 5-2 defeat against Marseille in the 2017/18 UEFA Europa League quarter-final second leg, completing a 5-3 aggregate loss.

• Before this season's successes, Leipzig had won only three of their 12 away European matches (D4 L5).

• In 2018/19 the German club came through three qualifying rounds to reach the UEFA Europa League group stage, but finished behind Salzburg and Celtic to drop out of the competition, collecting seven points from their six games.

Links and trivia
• Have played together:
Lucas Tousart & Dayot Upamecano (Valenciennes, 2013–15)

• Has played in Germany:
Marcelo (Hannover 2013–16)

• Have also played in France:
Ibrahima Konaté (Sochaux 2017)
Nordi Mukiele (Laval 2014–17, Montpellier 2017–18)
Christopher Nkunku (Paris Saint-Germain 2015–19)

• International team-mates:
Houssem Aouar, Jeff Reine-Adélaïde, Amine Gouiri & Ibrahima Konaté (France U21)
Youssouf Koné & Amadou Haidara (Mali)
Joachim Andersen & Yussuf Poulsen (Denmark)

• Upamecano and Reine-Adélaïde were both part of the victorious France squad at the 2015 UEFA European Under-17 Championship.

Latest news

Lyon
• Lyon have lost three of their last six matches in all competitions, winning the other three. They were beaten 1-0 at home by LOSC Lille on 3 December, ending a run of three successive wins at OL Stadium; Lyon's record at their own ground this season before that sequence was W1 D3 L2.

• On Friday Lyon were 4-0 winners at Ligue 1's bottom club Nîmes, the first time they had scored four goals in an away game in 31 matches in all competitions.

• OL have 25 points after 17 league games, their second lowest total at this stage of the season in 22 years; they had 23 at the same point in 2013/14.

• Lyon had 31 points after 17 matches in 2018/19.

• Maxence Caqueret marked his Ligue 1 debut with an assist for Maxwel Cornet in Lyon's 2-1 win at Strasbourg on 30 November.

• Memphis Depay (seven goals) and Moussa Dembélé (four) have scored 11 of OL's last 18 goals in all competitions, and nine of the last 14 in Ligue 1 – four for Dembélé and five for Depay, who got two at Nîmes on Friday.

• Dembélé and Depay secured a 2-0 victory against Metz on 26 October, 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.

• Lyon beat Angers 6-0 on 16 August, their biggest home league win since an 8-1 victory against Le Mans on 13 May 2006.

• Dembélé (ten) and Depay (nine) have scored 19 of Lyon's 28 league goals so far this season. Cornet and Jeff Reine-Adélaïde, who have both scored twice, were the only other OL players to have registered in Ligue 1 since 16 August before Friday, when Joachim Andersen scored his first Ligue 1 goal and Houssem Aouar also found the net.

• With Fernando Marçal still nursing an adductor injury, 19-year-old full-back Melvin Bard made his professional debut in Nîmes.

• Rafael was replaced at half-time at Nîmes after taking a blow to the ankle.

• Youssouf Koné was taken off midway through the first half against LOSC with an ankle injury, and underwent surgery on Friday.

• Léo Dubois limped off against Strabourg with a knee injury and has undergone surgery that is likely to keep him on the sidelines until 2020.

• Aouar came on as a substitute for Depay against LOSC, his first game since 9 November due to a hamstring injury.

• Reserve goalkeeper Ciprian Tătăruşanu has missed Lyon's last three games with a heel problem.

• Depay, who has scored in all four Group G matches he has played, was named OL captain on 21 November. 

Leipzig
• Marcel Sabitzer's next appearance in UEFA club competition will be his 50th.

• Leipzig have won seven of their last eight competitive games, scoring 32 goals and conceding only nine. They were 3-2 victors at Paderborn on 30 November and won 3-1 at home to Hoffenheim on Saturday.

• Patrik Schick scored his first goal for Leipzig in Paderborn.

• Timo Werner has 19 goals in 21 games this season for Leipzig, including one against Paderborn and two against Hoffenheim that made it 11 in his last eight matches.

• Hannes Wolf (out since 17 June, broken ankle) returned as a late substitute against Hoffenheim.

• Péter Gulácsi (head) and Emil Forsberg (muscular) both missed the win at Paderborn before returning on Saturday.

• Yussuf Poulsen came on as a second-half substitute against Hoffenheim having not played since 18 November because of adductor problems.

• Kevin Kampl is not expected to play again in 2019 after surgery on his right ankle on 25 November.

• Willi Orban was replaced in the first half of Leipzig's 6-1 German Cup win at Wolfsburg on 30 October having suffered a knee injury that required an operation; he is not expected to play again until 2020.

• Ibrahima Konaté (out since 2 October, hip) will be out for the rest of the year.

• Tyler Adams, who has been sidelined by a metatarsal injury since early August, is back in training.