Lyon's perfect start to their Europa League campaign continued on Thursday as they beat Crystal Palace 3-2 and spoilt Pierre Sage's return to the Groupama Stadium.
Lyon 3-2 Crystal Palace: Sage condemned to defeat on homecoming
Crystal Palace boss Pierre Sage was hoping for a happy return to Lyon, but his former side took all three points in the Europa League.
Former Lyon boss Sage saw his Palace side fall 2-0 down before the break after goals from Corentin Tolisso and Ernest Nuamah put the Ligue 1 giants in control.
Yeremy Pino and Daichi Kamada responded for the Eagles in an entertaining second half, but substitute Pavel Sulc's 76th-minute strike proved to be the winning goal.
The hosts were ahead after just eight minutes as Palace failed to clear Nuamah's in-swinging corner, allowing Tolisso to fire in at Walter Benitez's near post for the opener.
Ismaila Sarr saw a header drift wide after the half-hour mark, and the Eagles were dealt a blow in first-half stoppage time when Keito Nakamura sprinted into the box before squaring to Nuamah for a simple finish.
However, Palace halved the deficit just five minutes into the second half when Adam Wharton played Pino into the Lyon penalty area with a brilliant first-time pass, and the Spaniard beat Dominik Greif with an emphatic finish.
Jorgen Strand Larsen missed a huge chance to equalise moments later, heading over from Wharton's corner, while Sarr's driven cross into the six-yard box was expertly pushed away by Greif.
Lyon then regained control and restored their two-goal cushion in the 76th minute as Nakamura's mishit effort was flicked in by Sulc, though Kamada teed up a nervy ending after reacting quickest to a loose ball in the box five minutes later.
Chris Richards went mightily close to an equaliser in the final minute of normal time as he connected well with Wharton's corner, but Greif managed to get enough behind his save to keep out the defender's header.
Lyon's wide men trouble Palace
The contest was fought evenly, with Lyon edging the expected goals (xG) battle 1.71 to 1.58 after both sides recorded four shots on target and created four Opta-defined big chances each.
The difference-makers, however, were Lyon's wingers. Nuamah played a crucial role in Lyon's first goal before scoring a timely second before the break, while Nakamura recorded two assists, even if the second was unintentional.
Nuamah and Nakamura both recorded the joint-most touches in the box among Lyon players (five), while the latter created a team-high four chances and completed 100% of his dribbles (2/2).
While Lyon have ended a four-game winless run against English teams in the Europa League, there will be plenty of positives to take for Sage's Palace side, who went toe-to-toe against the fourth-place team in Ligue 1.
Wharton impressed as ever, creating four chances as Palace looked to mount a comeback, but Strand Larsen's failure to hit the target with any of his four shots (team-high) proved costly.
