Utrecht vs Lyon

This is FC Utrecht and Lyon’s first ever meeting any European competition – Utrecht’s only previous meeting with a French opponent was in their two-legged UEFA Cup second round tie with Auxerre in 2003-04, losing 4-0 on aggregate.

Lyon have won three of their four UEFA Europa League matches against sides from the Netherlands (L1), scoring 15 goals across these matches. Both their away games ended 4-1 – a win at AZ in February 2017 and defeat at Ajax in May 2017.

FC Utrecht are featuring in major European competition for the first time since the 2010-11 UEFA Europa League, when they went out in the group stage having drawn five of six games (L1). They’re winless in 11 major European games (D5 L6) since a 4-0 win over Djurgården in September 2004.

Lyon have lost just two of their 32 UEFA Europa League group stage matches (W20 D10), with their 62.5% win rate in the group stage the fifth-best of the sides to play 30+ group games since 2009-10.

FC Utrecht striker Sébastien Haller has been involved in 22 goals in 24 major European appearances (17 goals, 5 assists), scoring or assisting a goal every 75 minutes. That’s the second-best ratio of any player with 1,000+ minutes between 2018-19 and 2024-25, behind only Erling Haaland (one every 71 mins).