Lyon management attributed the firing to "Perrin's several malfunctions that affected the squad daily throughout the season" and their constant failure in Europe.

Kolodziejcak, a teammate of Tafer and Grenier on the international stage, will initially move to Lyon on a loan with a purchase clause likely to occur at a later date.

[14] Also in an effort to increase their youths' playing time, Lyon re-loaned Sandy Paillot to Grenoble for the entirety of the season[15] and loaned out midfielder Romain Beynié to Belgian side Tubize.

Lossémy Karaboué,[24] Alexandre Bouchard,[25] and Aurélien Badin[26] have moved to Ligue 2 sides Sedan, Châteauroux and Troyes respectively.

[27] Young striker Stephen Ettien moved to Scottish side Hamilton Academical,[28] while Mohamed Bedda and Mickael Charvet earned trials at Strasbourg and Nice respectively.

[33] Friendly Lyon opened up their Ligue 1 season in a positive fashion, defeating Toulouse 3–0 with a brace from Karim Benzema and a rare goal from Jean Makoun.

Following a 0–0 draw away to Lorient, which dropped them to third in the league standings, Lyon rebounded with back-to-back wins over Rhône-Alpes rivals Grenoble and Saint-Étienne respectively.

[34] Lyon struggled in every aspect of the match and allowed Rennes striker Mickaël Pagis to score a hat-trick, the last goal being a beautiful strike from almost 30 yards out.

Lyon finally got back on track with shut-out wins over Sochaux, Le Mans and Monaco before heading into their showdown with imminent rivals Bordeaux.

In this match, Lyon not only incurred their second defeat, but they lost their consistent right back Anthony Réveillère to injury with the player likely being out for the season, though he later returned to the squad.

[45] After a full week of training, Lyon again rebounded from a draw picking up a convincing 3–1 victory over Hugo Lloris' former club Nice, with Jean Makoun scoring an unexpected brace.

The match remained even until the 66th minute when Kim Källström scored following a gifted pass from the youngster Miralem Pjanić.

The scoreline remained until injury time when Rennes striker Jimmy Briand scored after receiving a nice through-ball which caught Lyon defender Cris off guard.

Briand proceeded to get a shot on the ball off balance, which got past the charging Hugo Lloris to tie the match 1–1, the eventual final scoreline.

Lyon followed this draw with a defeat taking on Lille, whom they had just contested three days ago in a Coupe de France tie.

With the match being played at the Stade de France and the clubs entertaining a record crowd, Lyon fielded a pretty strong, yet questionable side with players Mathieu Bodmer and François Clerc returning from a long absence and also having the task of defeating Barcelona in Spain in the second leg of their Champion's League clash.

With the likes of Marseille, Bordeaux, PSG, Lille and Toulouse on their backs, Lyon needed victories to ensure their eighth-straight league title.

Early on in the match, Lyon were denied a clear penalty chance after Ederson was taking down in the box by Bordeaux right back Matthieu Chalmé.

Bordeaux proceeded to score just before half-time with a goal from the former Lyonnais Alou Diarra after Wendel hit the post on a shot off a corner kick.

Despite defeating Nantes 3–0 with Jean Makoun scoring a brace, a victory by Bordeaux over Valenciennes eliminated Lyon from title contention.

Instead of reminiscing, Lyon took the opportunity to focus on qualifying for next year's UEFA Champions League with a key match against Marseille.

In front of a record crowd for a Marseille match, Lyon cruised to a 3–1 victory, with Benzema finally ending his goal drought scoring a brace.

Lyon were now guaranteed to finish in the third spot, meaning they would be seeded directly into the Playoff round, where they might end up facing the likes of the 2008–09 UEFA Cup champions Shakhtar Donetsk and Sporting CP.

Since Lyon won both the league and the Coupe de France, they faced the club that finished in second place in Ligue 1 this past season, Bordeaux.

Lyon were paired with the defending German champions Bayern Munich, Italian side Fiorentina and the Romanian runners-up Steaua București.

With Lyon attacking, following a cross into the box, a collision occurred just inside the field of play between Frédéric Piquionne and Fiorentina defender Luciano Zauri, which unexpectedly injured the latter.

With one point in hand, Lyon traveled to Munich to take on group leaders Bayern, who defeated Steaua București 1–0 on the opening matchday.

With the result in the other match between Bayern and Fiorentina being a draw, this moved Lyon into first place in the group (on goal differential) heading into the final two matchdays.

Despite chances from Juninho and Ederson, in which both players hit the post in amazing fashion, the scoreline remained as Lyon booked their place in the knockout stage.

In the opening leg at the Gerland, Lyon got off to a quick start scoring in just the seventh minute with a deceiving free kick, from an odd angle, by Juninho, which confused Barcelona goalkeeper Víctor Valdés and eventually with into the inside of the side netting.