Paris Saint-Germain v Lyon moved to Monday as French police step in
Paris Saint-Germain's Ligue 1 match against Lyon has been moved back 24 hours, to Monday, after French police banned it from going ahead on its original date.
Ligue 1 is France's top division, and the French league, the Ligue de Football Professionnel, announced the postponement on Friday. The game had been due to kick off at 19:45 GMT on Sunday at the Parc des Princes in Paris. It will now start at 20:30 on Monday 26 October.
The reason is the unrest across France. Demonstrations are planned in Paris on Saturday, and the authorities are preparing a large security operation to cover them. Reuters reported that troops were being sent to support police ahead of the protests. Partial curfews, which limit who can be out on the streets in certain areas, were imposed in parts of Paris, Bordeaux, Lille, Lyon, Nice and Marseille.
The scale of the protests is large. Around 550,000 people took part in demonstrations last Saturday, protesting rising fuel prices, education standards and the cost of living. Those are the issues that have brought people onto the streets, and they are not about football. Still, the effect has reached the fixture list.
Toulouse's home game against Troyes has also been moved, from Saturday to Sunday, at the request of the authorities. Clubs are used to rearranged dates, but a switch like this usually comes down to police planning, not a scheduling clash.
The stakes on the pitch are simple enough. Lyon lead the table on 14 points, while PSG sit second after seven matches. A win on Monday would keep PSG within touching distance of the top, and Lyon would be looking to hold on to their place.
For fans heading to the Parc des Princes, the practical message is to check the new date and time before setting off. Plans made for Sunday night will need to change, and so will travel for anyone coming in from outside the city. Whatever happens on the pitch, the decision means a match that was meant to be a Sunday night fixture will now be played on a Monday night, in a city that is preparing for a busy weekend of its own.
