It was a disappointing result for Pierre Sage's side, after the Frenchman returned to the club where he spent 14 months.

​The evening didn’t start well for Crystal Palace as Lyon went in front after seven minutes, and set pieces proved to be enemy number one again.

Ernest Nuamah’s corner deflected off Jaydee Canvot, and Coretin Tolisso reacted quickest, stabbing the ball in at the near post.

​It was the biggest moment of a first half that lacked any sort of attacking from either side. Nuamah went close with a header which Walter Benitez punched away; however, both Lyon and Palace had been extremely wasteful in possession.

​Ismaïla Sarr tried his best to change the Eagles' fortunes by heading Pino’s cross towards goal, which a stumbling Dominik Greif managed to get a glove to, although the touch from the Slovakian was missed by referee João Pedro Silva Pinheiro, who awarded a goal kick much to the frustrations of Sarr, which earnt him a yellow card.

​To make matters worse, Palace were 2-0 down with the final kick of the first half. Nuamah continued his excellent performance as he turned home Keito Nakamura’s cross from close range.

​The Eagles came out the second half much improved, and Pino halved the deficit five minutes after half-time as a set piece worked in their favour. A short corner found its way to Adam Wharton, who played a ball inside to the Spaniard to fire into the roof of the net.

​Following the goal, Palace got opportunities in behind; however, none to really test Lyon. The French side almost restored their two-goal lead themselves in the 66th minute when Abner’s header was tipped over by Benitez.

​The Eagles broke away from the corner that followed, with Tyrick Mitchell playing a lovely through ball for the newly introduced Kamada, with the Japanese midfield appearing to be clumsily tripped by Nuamah.

​However, the referee was adamant that it was not a penalty, and VAR agreed, which the Crystal Palace coaching staff did not agree with.

​They continued though, and Kamada was involved in a big opportunity a couple of minutes later as he reacted first to a pinpoint cross from Pino, though Greif stuck out a leg to deny an equaliser.

​Ultimately they could not make the pressure count as Lyon made it 3-1 with 14 minutes to go; Nakamura was at the heart of it again as he swiped Noah Nartey’s cross towards goal, and Pavel Šulc’s instinctive backheel trickled past Benitez.

​It wasn’t the nail in the coffin, though, as Palace hit back four minutes later, Darío Osorio made a darting run down the right, and fizzed a ball right across the box. Lyon comically struggled to clear, and Kamada were in the right place once again to turn home from close range.

​The Eagles almost found their leveller in the final minute of normal time through a bullet header from Chris Richards, which did not nestle in the back of the net due to a reactive save from Greif.

​In the end, Crystal Palace weren’t able to break down Lyon, and questions would be asked about yet another slow start in the first half, leaving them 2-0 down, although the second-half performance was much improved.

​One area they needed to improve, though, was conceding first-half goals; Lyon’s two goals were the ninth this season that Palace had conceded in the opening 45.

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