Olympique Lyonnais will skip Anderlecht pitch session

Olympique Lyonnais will arrive in Brussels without having trained at Anderlecht’s Lotto Park, keeping the club’s full match preparation at its Décines base. Paulo Fonseca has chosen not to schedule a collective familiarisation session at the Belgian stadium before Wednesday’s Europa League opener.

Lyon’s final training session is planned for Tuesday morning at the club’s training centre. The players will then have lunch together before travelling to Belgium later that afternoon. Fonseca and a Lyon player will still attend the customary pre-match press conference in Brussels, but it will not be followed by a team session on the pitch.

The decision follows Fonseca’s established preference for working at Lyon’s usual facilities rather than holding a light workout at the opposition ground. The coach has departed from that approach when a surface required special attention, as Lyon did before visiting Bern’s artificial pitch last season. No such measure is considered necessary at Lotto Park.

The arrangement allows Lyon to keep its final tactical work private and limits the time spent away from home, with Rennes due in Lyon three days after the European fixture. The players will therefore see Anderlecht’s stadium for the first time on match day. The trip begins Lyon’s third successive Europa League campaign after its Champions League play-off elimination by Fenerbahçe.