Lyon 4-0 Rennes: Ernest Nuamah's brace and a Corentin Tolisso strike end Rennes' unbeaten start

Rennes arrived at the Groupama Stadium unbeaten and level on points at the top of Ligue 1. They left it having conceded four without reply. Ernest Nuamah scored twice inside the first half-hour, Zachary Athekame added a third three minutes into the second half, and Corentin Tolisso rounded it off in the 76th minute as Lyon produced their most complete performance of the season.

Nuamah does the early damage, Athekame and Tolisso finish it

Nuamah needed only seven minutes to open the scoring and struck again at 30' for his second, giving Lyon a two-goal cushion before the half-hour mark. Athekame made it three just after the restart, finishing at 48', and Tolisso — introduced to a more central role than the wide positions he had sometimes occupied earlier this season — completed the scoring with a clean finish at 76'. It was, by his own admission afterwards, his best individual performance of the campaign so far, and his first league goal of the season.

Line-ups

Lyon lined up in a 4-2-3-1 under Paulo Fonseca: Dominik Greif in goal; Abner, Moussa Niakhaté, Felix Bacher and Zachary Athekame across the back four; Tyler Morton and Mads Bidstrup screening in front of them; Corentin Tolisso, Pavel Sulc and Ernest Nuamah behind lone striker Loïs Openda. Rennes set up in a 4-1-4-1: Brice Samba in goal, a back four of Quentin Merlin, Abdelhamid Aït Boudlal, Charlie Cresswell and Przemyslaw Frankowski, Valentin Rongier holding in midfield, Eliezer Mayenda, Mahdi Camara, Adrien Thomasson and Arnaud Nordin ahead of him, and Boulaye Dia leading the line.

Rennes' first defeat of the season

This was the first loss of the campaign for Rennes, who had opened with a draw against PSG and then reeled off three straight wins — over Le Mans, Angers and Marseille — to sit third on 10 points, level with Lille and Monaco at the top. That run is over, and while the defeat does not cost them any points they already had, it does end the unbeaten record that had made them one of the stories of the opening month. Lyon, by contrast, had gone into the weekend 4th on 8 points and move to 11, above Rennes and provisionally back inside the Champions League qualification places, on the back of a run that now reads three wins and two draws without a single defeat.

A number that stands out: more of the ball, more shots, and still a 4-0 defeat

The underlying numbers make Rennes' afternoon look worse, not better. They had 54.8% of the possession, completed more passes than Lyon and forced eight corners to Lyon's three — but managed only 4 shots on target from 13 attempts, against Lyon's 9 on target from 15. The expected-goals gap tells the same story: 3.13 for Lyon against 1.37 for Rennes, a bigger gulf than the shot count alone suggests, and one that lines up with how comfortable this actually was for the home side.

What's next

Lyon go into the international break unbeaten in five matches, alongside Monaco among the form sides at the top of Ligue 1. Rennes have more repair work to do: a first defeat was always going to come eventually, but conceding four at Lyon, having dominated the ball for long stretches, is the kind of result that needs answering before the next round.