Friendly round-up: Lyon beat Wolfsburg as Pagis shines for Paris FC
Two Ligue 1 McDonald’s clubs continued their preparations for the 2026/27 campaign on Friday 24 July. Lyon completed their training camp in Germany with an encouraging victory, while Paris FC produced a promising display against Champions League-qualified opposition in Italy.
Lyon finish German camp with a win
Six days after suffering their first defeat of pre-season against Slavia Prague, Paulo Fonseca’s side bounced back by overcoming Wolfsburg 2-0 at the Fuchs-Park-Stadion in Bamberg.
The match was played in an unusual format consisting of two 60-minute periods, giving Fonseca the opportunity to distribute minutes throughout his squad. Lyon created the better chances during the opening exchanges, with Julien Duranville striking the crossbar after being picked out by Tyler Morton.
Dominik Greif was also called into action at the opposite end, producing two important saves to keep the scores level. The match then swung in OL’s favour shortly before the end of the opening period when Wolfsburg were reduced to ten men following a foul on Rémi Himbert.
Les Gones took advantage seven minutes after the restart. Duranville’s curling effort was pushed away by the goalkeeper, but Ainsley Maitland-Niles followed the ball into the area and calmly converted the rebound with his left foot.
Fonseca changed his entire team during the closing stages, with Malick Fofana making his return to action. One of the substitutes then completed the scoring in the 94th minute. Fofana’s pass released Orel Mangala, whose cross was headed back across goal by Tanner Tessmann for Alejandro Gomes Rodriguez to nod home.
The result leaves Lyon with four victories from their opening five pre-season matches. OL will complete their preparations by facing Real Betis in Cadiz on Wednesday 29 July.
Pagis continues impressive Paris FC start
Paris FC were also in action on Friday morning, earning a 2-2 draw away to Como in a meeting played across three 30-minute periods.
The Italian side opened the scoring in the 26th minute, but Liam Rosenior’s men required only four minutes to respond. Rudy Matondo released Pablo Pagis in behind the defence, allowing the summer signing to finish clinically with his left foot.
The same combination struck again shortly afterwards. Matondo supplied his second assist of the match before Pagis opened up his body and found the opposite corner with his right foot to put Paris FC ahead.
Como eventually equalised four minutes from the end, but Pagis’ performance provided another positive for the capital club. The former Lorient attacker has now scored three times across his opening two friendly appearances for Paris FC, having also netted the winner against Stade de Reims in their first match of the summer.
Rosenior’s squad travelled directly from Italy to the adidas campus in Herzogenaurach, where they will continue their pre-season training camp. Their next friendly will come against Stuttgart on Saturday 1 August.
Friday 24 July results
Wolfsburg 0-2 Olympique Lyonnais
Goals: Maitland-Niles, A. Gomes Rodriguez
Como 2-2 Paris FC
Goals: Pagis x2
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