Luis Enrique relishing competitive title run-in after PSG´s defeat to Lyon

Luis Enrique said Paris Saint-Germain’s defeat to Lyon was not all bad news, suggesting a more competitive title race with Lens was what supporters wanted to see.

PSG were unable to pull further clear at the Ligue 1 summit after losing 2-1 to Lyon on Sunday, with first-half strikes from Endrick and Afonso Moreira doing the damage.

Goncalo Ramos had the chance to halve the deficit from the penalty spot after Ainsley Maitland-Niles barged Lucas Hernandez inside the box, but his spot-kick was saved.

Despite many chances, Khvicha Kvaratskhelia’s 94th-minute strike was rendered a consolation as PSG failed to build on reaching the Champions League semi-finals in midweek.

PSG have now lost five of their 28 Ligue 1 matches in 2025-26, their second-highest total at this stage under the Qatar Sports Investments era behind 2020-21 (six – runners-up) and level with 2012-13, a season where they were crowned champions.

The Parisians are still favoured by the Opta supercomputer to win their fifth straight top-flight title, with their probability of finishing at the summit assigned a 95.4% chance of happening, though Lens are also in the mix at 4.6%.

PSG do have a game in hand and also have to play Pierre Sage’s side on May 13, and Luis Enrique was unfazed by his team’s latest stumble.

“I don’t know, it’s just the way it is,” Luis Enrique said when asked if it was bad news that their gap at the top was just a point.

“Did you want a more competitive Championship? You have it. Lens is having a very good season, and it will be difficult until the last match.”

It ends in defeat against Lyon.

The Parisians are back in action against Nantes on Wednesday.

ALLEZ PARIS #PSGOL I @Ligue1_ENG pic.twitter.com/yuZTFnIV1Z

— Paris Saint-Germain (@PSG_English) April 19, 2026

PSG had their opportunities, registering an expected goals (xG) total of 2.88 from their 22 shots compared to Lyon’s 0.7 from their six attempts, five of which were on target.

Most of PSG’s xG total was down to Ramos’ spot-kick, with Luis Enrique’s team’s struggles from 12 yards this season continuing.

They have now failed to convert six of the 12 penalties they have taken in 2025-26 in all competitions, more than any other team in the top big European leagues.

And when asked to sum up the display, Luis Enrique was left to rue his side’s missed chances as well as being put immediately on the back foot after Lyon’s two early goals.

“It’s very easy to analyse. When you start a game like that, you try to dominate and control, but you concede two goals on the first two chances,” Luis Enrique added.

“At that moment, we understood that it would be complicated. We hit 23 times, but we only scored on the last one. We missed another penalty. That made the difference.

“We tried to change this dynamic, but we didn’t succeed. Lyon played a high-level match, they have quality players and a coach.

“We have to accept it, we’ll wait for the next match, we now play every three days. We have to give minutes to a lot of players because we are going to play a lot.”