Marie-Antoinette Katoto found the net with the ruthless calm Lyon had hoped to see more often. On a one-sided Champions League night in Geneva, the OL Lyonnes forward struck three times in an 8-0 demolition of Servette, offering the clearest sign yet that her second campaign at the club may be taking a different course.
A difficult first year gives way to early momentum
Katoto arrived in Lyon after 11 seasons with Paris Saint-Germain, but her first season in 2025-26 did not quite match the standards set during her years in the capital. The France international, who has 43 goals in 66 caps and turns 28 on 1 November, still posted respectable overall numbers: 15 goals in 40 matches in all competitions.
The detail, however, was less convincing. Seven of those goals came in the Coupe de France, while her league return was six goals from 20 outings. In Europe, she scored once across 10 Champions League appearances.
Those figures were modest for a striker who had previously won the French league’s Golden Boot three times, in 2019, 2020 and 2022. This season has started far more brightly.
- Katoto scored twice in Lyon’s 7-1 win over Paris FC on 12 September.
- Her treble against Servette took her to five goals in four matches.
- OL Lyonnes have scored 30 times across those four fixtures.
- The hat-trick was Katoto’s second in the Champions League, achieved in her 52nd match in the competition.
Three finishes after Lyon’s early breakthrough
Servette, a side containing several friends of Katoto, could not slow Lyon once the French champions established control. Laia Ballesté’s own goal put the visitors ahead in the eighth minute before Katoto took over.
Melchie Dumornay supplied the first of her three goals in the 20th minute. Ada Hegerberg then set her up for another shortly before half-time, and Lily Yohannes produced a clever backheel for Katoto to complete the treble two minutes after the restart.
- 8th minute: Ballesté turned the ball into her own net.
- 20th minute: Katoto finished from Dumornay’s delivery.
- 40th minute: Hegerberg created Katoto’s second.
- 47th minute: Yohannes’ backheel led to the third.
- 54th minute: Katoto tried to return the favour for Hegerberg, but the ball instead reached Dumornay for Lyon’s sixth.
Katoto could have chased a fourth goal, but chose the pass rather than the shot on that 54th-minute move. Her previous European treble came for PSG in a 7-0 victory against Braga on 12 September 2019.
Rest, work and a harder examination ahead
Operating in a 3-4-3 alongside Hegerberg and Dumornay, Katoto linked her current form to an unusually restorative summer and the work demanded by coach Jonatan Giraldez.
“It did us a lot of good,” she said. “It had been a very long time since we had been able to stop for such a long period.”
Giraldez was equally pleased, while stressing that Katoto’s development has not only been about finishing.
“She has improved in the defensive phase,” the Lyon coach said. “Everyone sees that she is an outstanding striker, but I believe our centre-forward has to be the team’s best defender. She worked throughout pre-season and at the start of this campaign, and I am happy with her.”
Servette provided space, chances and a scoreline to savour, but the next European appointment will offer a sharper measure of Lyon’s progress. Chelsea, coached by former Lyon boss Sonia Bompastor, visit the Groupama Stadium next Wednesday.
