Palace back at Lyon and Sunderland in Portugal headline Europa League early games
Crystal Palace returned to Lyon on Thursday 15 October 2026 for a Europa League tie full of history. Lyon kept Palace out of this competition last season. Both clubs arrived on Matchday 2 aiming to win again.
Kick-off at Parc Olympique Lyonnais was 5.45pm BST, 6.45pm local time. UEFA lists Lyon v Crystal Palace as a Matchday 2 fixture in the league phase, the single-table opening stage of UEFA's second-tier club competition UEFA. Palace described it as their second game in the league phase, with live audio commentary on Palace TV+.
Pierre Sage led Palace in Lyon. He chose a 3-4-2-1, three centre-backs with wing-backs providing the width: Benitez; Richards, Disasi, Canvot; Mingueza, Timber, Wharton, Mitchell; Sarr, Pino; Strand Larsen. Lyon set up in a 4-3-1-2, four defenders with one playmaker behind two strikers: Greif; Athekame, Bacher, Kluivert, Abner Vinicius; Morton, Nartey, Tolisso; Merah; Nuamah, Nakamura The Guardian.
The benches were deep. Lyon named Bengui Joao, Descamps, Bidstrup, Tessmann, Sulc, Mata, Duranville, Boudache, Kango, Himbert, Kamara and Niakhate. Palace named Matthews, Benetton, Nketiah, McNeil, Kamada, Hughes, Ahanor, Osorio, Khalaili and Benamar. Palace said away tickets for Lyon sold out, with a waiting list opened Crystal Palace FC.
The past still hung over this one. Last summer UEFA demoted Palace from the Europa League to the Conference League in a multi-club ownership case, with Lyon retaining the Europa League place Reuters. The Court of Arbitration for Sport dismissed Palace's appeal Reuters. Palace answered by beating Rayo Vallecano to lift the Conference League trophy in May Reuters.
Sunderland had their own adventure at the same hour. Their first away trip of the league phase took them to Portugal to face S.C.U. Torreense, with kick-off also at 5.45pm BST. Nearly 4,000 Sunderland supporters travelled for the tie Sunderland AFC.
Torreense are a remarkable story. They became the first Portuguese second-tier club to lift the Taca de Portugal, the national cup, with a 2-1 win over Sporting in May. They then beat Lillestrom in their Europa League opener. They missed out on promotion after losing their play-off against Casa Pia.
Sunderland sat 17th in the Premier League before the game. They won their Europa League opener against AZ the previous month. Brobbey and Diarra travelled with the squad for the Torreense test.
They were not alone in the early window. RB Salzburg v Milan, Union Saint-Gilloise v Real Sociedad and Lech Poznan v Bayer Leverkusen were also among the 5.45pm BST kick-offs. A separate clockwatch followed the 8pm BST games.
What makes this stand out is the mix of memory and novelty. Palace had a score to settle and a city behind them. Sunderland had a cup fairytale to spoil. For fans, this means two English clubs testing themselves in very different corners of Europe on the same European night.
