You can read more of Disco's thoughts on Glasgow's pursuit of the PRO14 title and European progress, as well as Scotland's international fortunes, at his excellent blog Top of the Moon.
KO 1.00pm GMT (2.00pm local time)
Matmut Stadium de Gerland
Saturday 8th December
Live on BT Sport 3
Champions Cup stats:
- Glasgow have won 1 and lost 7 of their games when they been away from home in the Champions Cup for Round 3.
- That solitary win came against Racing 92 in the 2016/17 tournament.
- With a final round match away to Saracens looming at the end of the pool stages, both legs of the double header against Lyon are essentially must wins for the Warriors if they want to have a shot at progressing to the quarter finals.
- There are 20 capped players in Glasgow's matchday 23 (Lyon - 12).
Teams
Lyon
15 Alexis Palisson
14 Toby Arnold
13 Rudi Wulf
12 Adrien Seguret
11 Noa Nakaitaci
10 Lionel Beauxis
9 Jonathan Pelissie
1 Albertus Buckle
2 Mickael Ivaldi
3 Hamza Kaabeche
4 Felix Lambey
5 Manuel Carizza
6 Julien Puricelli
7 Liam Gill
8 Carl Fearns
Substitutes
16 Virgile Lacombe
17 Alexandre Menini
18 Kevin Yameogo
19 Hendrik Roodt
20 Patrick Sobela
21 Charl McLeod
22 Pierre-Louis Barassi
22 Jean-Marc Doussain
15 Stuart Hogg
14 Tommy Seymour
13 Nick Grigg
12 Peter Horne
11 DTH van der Merwe
10 Adam Hastings
9 George Horne
1 Oli Kebble
2 Fraser Brown
3 D'arcy Rae
4 Robert Harley
5 Jonny Gray
6 Adam Ashe
7 Callum Gibbins (Captain)
8 Matt Fagerson
Substitutes
16 George Turner
17 Jamie Bhatti
18 Siua Halanukonuka
19 Tim Swinson
20 Chris Fusaro
21 Ali Price
22 Huw Jones
23 Nikola Matawalu
Head-to-Head
15 ADV Glasgow
14 ADV Glasgow
13 ADV Lyon
12 ADV Glasgow
11 ADV Lyon
10 EVEN
9 EVEN
1 ADV Glasgow
2 ADV Glasgow
3 EVEN
4 EVEN
5 ADV Glasgow
6 EVEN
7 ADV Lyon
8 ADV Lyon
Substitutes
16 ADV Lyon
17 ADV Lyon
18 ADV Glasgow
19 ADV Glasgow
20 EVEN
21 ADV Glasgow
22 ADV Glasgow
23 EVEN
Starting XV stats:
Backs
Champions Cup tries
- Lyon 18
- Glasgow 29
Champions Cup appearances
- Lyon 117
- Glasgow 139
Average age
- Lyon 30.0
- Glasgow 27.3
Capped players
- Lyon 5
- Glasgow 7
Forwards
Pack weight
- Lyon 880kg
- Glasgow 902kg
Tight 5 weight
- Lyon 555kg
- Glasgow 592kg
Champions Cup appearances
- Lyon 81
- Glasgow 114
Average age
- Lyon 28.6
- Glasgow 26.2
Capped players
- Lyon 4
- Glasgow 5
Glasgow Greetings:
A welcome return to Warriors' action for Stuart Hogg after a 13-week absence. In his two outings so far this season Hoggy has managed a game-winning drop goal against Connacht plus a try versus Munster. He'll be desperate to get back in amongst the action on Saturday. The man from Hawick will start alongside Tommy Seymour and DTH van der Merwe in the back 3 for the 12th time - but this will be the first such occasion in a European match.
Matchday Milestones:
Game number 40 in the Heineken Cup for Robert Harley. Big Bad Bob is just the second player to reach this mark for Glasgow and is now one behind Gordon Bulloch's all-time record of 41 appearances in this competition for the club.
Warrior to Watch:
Adam Hastings has seized the opportunity presented by Finn Russell's departure at the end of last season. The junior half of the Hornstings pairing won the 10 shirt for the opening game of the season and has held it for all bar one of the games he has been available for. His ability as a playmaker extraordinaire has been showcased throughout this campaign but never more so than while pulling the strings during Glasgow's last European outing against Cardiff Blues where he was the beating heart of a dominant attacking display.
Adding in his efforts from that game he's picked up 2 tries and 6 assists (along with 3 Man of the Match awards). Only the Warriors' scrum halves can top those try involvements this year (Ali Price 10, George Horne 9). In fact Glasgow's 9s and 10s combined have been directly involved in 27 of the 48 tries scored so far during 2018/19. There's no question Adam's performance will have a big influence on what will be just the third Champions Cup match of his career.
Glasgow's Track Record...
...against French sides in the pool stages of the European Cup:
11 wins (8 at home, 3 away)
2 draws (1 at home, 1 away)
25 losses (10 at home, 15 away)
After only managing one win on French soil in their first 17 years of Heineken Cup action, Glasgow have won recently against Montpellier (2014/15) and Racing 92 (2016/17). Of course that solitary earlier triumph was a fairly memorable one. No excuse needed to revisit these highlights - even if the picture quality is a bit rough...
Most recent meeting in Europe:
This will be the first ever encounter between the clubs with Lyon playing just the third Heineken Cup match in their history. The French side will be the 30th different opponent for Glasgow in this tournament since they debuted against Ulster at Ravenhill more than 21 years ago.
Officials:
Referee: Matthew Carley (Eng)
AR1: Greg Macdonald (Eng)
AR2: Wayne Falla (Eng)
TMO: Geoff Warren (Eng)
Mr Carley takes charge of a Warriors' fixture for the second time, following last season's Round 3 match-up in the Champions Cup. On that occasion Montpellier visited Scotstoun and Glasgow rather shot themselves in the foot with 2 yellow cards and 14 penalties (plus a seriously misfiring lineout) conspiring to hand the Top 14 side a win after the Warriors had looked to be taking charge early on.
The English official has even more recent experience of Glasgow having been Assistant Referee for the club's last European outing - against Cardiff Blues. The Warriors kept their noses clean that day (8 pens, no cards) so hopefully Mr Carley starts this game with a positive outlook on Glasgow's tendencies.
Bonus obscure stat:
Alex Allan's suspension brings to an end a run of 15 consecutive appearances in the number 17 shirt for Glasgow's European games. Not since Jerry Yanuyanutawa nearly 3 years ago against Racing 92 has another loosehead prop inhabited that jersey for the Warriors in the Champions Cup.
Overall Alex had the longest active streak of Heineken Cup matches for the club having featured in 19 in a row. His absence means that Ali Price takes up the mantle with Saturday's game against Lyon being the 5'3" scrum half's 19th on the spin in European competition for the Warriors (15 starts, 4 subs).