Olympique Lyonnais And Paris FC In The Shock Of The Weekend

The French top-tier football league, D1 Arkema, will resume its action this weekend following the international break.

For the sixth matchday, an exciting match is scheduled between the defending champions, Olympique Lyonnais, and this season’s unexpected contender, Paris FC.

The showdown will take place at Stade Charléty in Paris.

Paris FC’s Incredible Start Of The Season

Paris FC has been developing its women’s football project slowly over the past several years, and they are now beginning to see the fruits of their labor.

The Ile-de-France-based club achieved a significant milestone by qualifying to the group stage of the Women’s Champions League for the first time in its history.

Their path to the group stage involved eliminating last year’s semi-finalists, Arsenal, and the runners-up, Wolfsburg.

In the D1 Arkéma, Paris FC are also in the spotlight as they’re currently second with 15 points out of 15 possible, trailing behind Lyon only by goal difference.

Ahead of the clash with les Lyonnaises, Julie Dufour, the Parisian striker praised her team’s performances of the season so far, “we have had a huge start to the season, we had set ourselves high objectives and we managed to achieve them, notably qualifying for the group stage of the Champions League.”

On Sunday, Dufour and her teammates have the opportunity to add to their performances by beating Lyon’s Fenottes.

Having been selected in the French national squad for the first time in her career, Dufour knows how important this head-to-head with Lyon is, “It’s the kind of match that we’re all looking forward to. I can’t wait to be there. With the start to the season that we’ve had, I think we have our chances. Recovery will also be essential since within both clubs, many international players are returning from selections.”

A Full Squad For Sonia Bompastor

Olympique Lyonnais is widely regarded as the best women’s team in the world. The club attracts some of the biggest stars of the game, have the ability to defeat any other squad any given moment, and are currently experiencing a rare injury-free period.

This is a somewhat unfamiliar situation for Bompastor, the team’s head coach, who has had to contend with injuries in recent months.

In the press conference ahead of the meeting against the runners-up, Eugénie Le Sommer showed her respect for Paris FC’s current form.

“This is a team that has had a perfect start to the season. They have been doing a good job for several seasons. They had big matches in the Champions League play-offs. They arrive with full confidence. It will be an intense match.”

OL will count on its goalkeeper Christiane Endler who has been decisive in the team’s recent big games. The 32-year-old Chilean put an end to her international career on the night of Tuesday to Wednesday following Chile’s 2-1 win against the U19’s team of the United States in the semi-final of the Pan American Games.

Endler has 104 caps, a record for the Chilean women’s national team.

The experienced goalkeeper has been playing in Europe since 2010 when she joined Everton. She then returned to Chile where she wore the colors of Colo-Colo (2011-2012, 2015-2016).

In 2014, Endler’s European journey resurged as she joined Chelsea for a season, before joining Valencia in 2016, moving to Paris Saint-Germain in 2017-2021, and lastly signing for Olympique Lyonnais in 2021.

Key Stats

• Olympique Lyonnais has eleven victories in eleven D1 Arkema matches against Paris FC. Les Fenottes will seek to maintain their invincibility against les Parisiennes.
• Eugénie Le Sommer has scored 5 goals in 5 matches in D1 Arkéma. The French forward leads the way alongside Gaëtane Thiney, Paris FC’s captain.
• Olympique Lyonnais scored 44 goals against Paris FC against only 6 goals conceded.

D1 Arkéma – Matchday 6 Schedule

Friday November 3

Lille – Montpellier (Canal + Foot)

Saturday November 4

Bordeaux – Reims (Dailymotion or FFF TV)

Le Havre – Dijon (Dailymotion or FFF TV)

Fleury 91 – Saint-Etienne (Dailymotion or FFF TV)

PSG – Guingamp (Dailymotion or FFF TV)

Sunday November 5

Paris FC – Olympique Lyonnais (Canal + Foot)