OL Lyonnes (formerly known as Olympique Lyonnais) are the most successful team in women's football history. The French side have won a record eight UEFA Women's Champions League [UWCL] and 18 French Première Ligue titles, along with 10 Coupe de France Féminine trophies.
American billionaire Michele Kang -- who also owns NWSL side Washington Spirit and newly promoted Women's Super League team London City Lionesses -- has been the majority stakeholder in OL Lyonnes since 2023 and under her reign, the club underwent a rebrand of name and badge this summer in a bid to reclaim their place at the top of the game, having failed to land the UWCL since 2022.
The squad has changed too. Some notable names like Eugénie Le Sommer, Dzsenifer Marozsan, Ellie Carpenter and Amel Majri have moved on and been replaced by a host of young talent including: Jule Brand, Marie-Antoinette Katoto, Korbin Shrader, Lily Yohannes, Ingrid Engen and Ashley Lawrence.
And former Barcelona manager Jonathan Giraldez -- who won 10 of the 12 trophies available during his three seasons in Spain -- was hired to manage them, having finished second in the NWSL last season and winning the Challenge Cup with the Spirit.
But with such a stacked squad and the French league a virtual formality, how can Giraldez make OL Lyonnes tick in the UWCL this season?
Giraldez brings a bit of Barcelona to France
Giraldez, who landed his first senior managerial job when Barcelona promoted him from assistant in 2021, comes from the school of possession and control. He wants his teams to have a monopoly on the ball and dominate territory with it. Indeed, his Barcelona sides often suffocated opponents, moving the ball at pace and finding space, while regularly creating high-quality chances.
OL Lyonnes have only played twice in the league so far this season, after a host of summer friendlies that saw them beat the likes of London City and Eintracht Frankfurt. But they have lined up in a 4-1-4-1 formation for the most part, with 18-year-old USWNT star Yohannes serving as the deepest player in midfield and her international teammate Lindsey Heaps pushed further up.
The team build their attacks in a 2-3-5 formation, with midfielders taking up advanced positions in between the opposition's defensive lines with a view to moving into the box. Indeed, Heaps led the stats charts with nine penalty area touches from midfield against Saint-Etienne in their last league game.
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OL Lyonnes' five-pronged attack -- fronted by the UWCL's all-time top scorer, Ada Hegerberg -- provides a lot of numbers inside the box, which allows them to generate shooting opportunities from close range. In their opening league game of the 2025-26 season against Marseille, they took 14 shots -- all from inside the penalty area.
On the ball, OL Lyonnes are a dominant side and have recorded 68% and 79% possession in their two league games so far, averaging over 700 passes with an 84% accuracy. The 33-year-old Giraldez's controlled approach is evident, but his squad is littered with players who like to dribble and carry the ball forward rather than simply rotating possession, which leaves the manager with some challenges to overcome.
The midfield conundrum
While OL Lyonnes' squad is full of talented individuals, they have some deficiencies in the midfield department.
First and foremost, they lack a controller in the midfield who can progress the ball and dictate the tempo of the game. Yohannes has played the deepest midfielder, with Damaris Egurrola on standby, but neither are metronomes on the ball. The young USWNT midfielder has often been left alone in midfield during the progression phase, making it easy for the opposition to mark her.
This has resulted in a lot of the progression duties being funneled to the full backs, as evidenced by the fact that Selma Bacha (23) and Lawrence (22) rank second and third for progressive passes in the squad this season. Indeed, Bacha has been arguably the most important piece in Giraldez's structure thus far.
Progression via the flanks often results in a lot of crosses and low-quality shots in the box, especially against teams playing a low block. OL Lyonnes attempted 45 crosses against Saint-Etienne -- more than in any league game last season -- and only managed five shots on target from their 19 shots, with a non-penalty expected goals (npxG) value of 1.2.
During his time at Barcelona, Giraldez had the luxury of managing one of the greatest midfield trios in women's football history in Aitana Bonmatí, Patricia Guijarro and Alexia Putellas. That trident offered defensive protection, ball progression, line breaking and chance creation as a unit, allowing Barcelona to shape-shift on and off the ball easily.
This consistently allowed Barcelona to find solutions when coming up against low blocks and enabled them to break lines through the middle. While replicating that level is near impossible for another team, the clear lack of a world-class passer in the OL Lyonnes midfield is evident and they will have difficulties breaking defensive line without one.
Barcelona controlled the UWCL final in 2024.
Structural issues in defense
OL Lyonnes have played six games in the 2025-26 season (including friendlies) and kept only two clean sheets. While they've only conceded multiple goals once, some structural issues raise serious questions.
Giraldez's defensive style is heavily reliant on an aggressive counter-press and his defenders' recovery pace to cover the large spaces in behind. While Barcelona's principles were deeply embedded in their in-possession psyche, OL Lyonnes are still getting to grips with their out-of-possession structure.
Thus far, they have defended in a 4-2-4 shape, with their attacking quartet taking aggressive positions high up the pitch. But this setup puts an incredible amount of stress on the central midfielders to provide coverage laterally. With the aforementioned midfield dilemma, the French giants often leave massive gaps between their lines, and it's something opponents can frequently target.
Their aggressive shape also hasn't matched up with an intense press thus far. While OL Lyonnes do press and commit numbers to it, their shape often leaves big spaces in between attack and midfield, making it easier to play through them. Marseille, Bayern Munich and Eintracht Frankfurt have all been able to generate some chances in this fashion this summer.
Still, Giraldez has a squad that will destroy teams in transition with their star quality. Katoto, Brand, Vicki Bècho, Kadidiatou Diani, Liana Joseph and Ines Benyahia will all need to rotate at some point and while the idea to fit all their attacking players on the pitch at the same time is tantalizing, striking a balance is going to be OL Lyonnes' biggest challenge.
They are yet to play to their full strength, and the weekend's league clash with rivals Paris Saint-Germain -- as well as their opening UWCL game against holders Arsenal, who beat them in the semifinals last season -- will offer some clues as to how far they can go this season. They have been easing in their star players so far, but their tactical issues need to be addressed if want to re-claim their place back at the top of the women's game.