Boro Under-21s kicked off their Premier League International Cup with a 1-0 defeat against Lyon.
Despite a dominant display from Boro, a Romain Perret header in the first-half was enough to secure all three points for the visitors.
Ajay Matthews had an early chance to get on the scoresheet as Nathan Simpson whipped a brilliant free-kick into the box, but the striker's header was pushed away by the Lyon keeper.
The away side looked dangerous in the opening exchanges and came close to taking the lead. Lyon worked the ball superbly to Enzo Molbe at the back post but he fired his shot wide of the post.
Moments later the visitors did find the opener. Romain Perret headed home a superb cross from Teco Barasic to give the away side the early advantage.
Boro responded well and came close to levelling the scores. Simpson delivered an inswinging free-kick that skipped evaded everyone in the box forcing Mathias Da Silva to palm away.
Middlesbrough U21: Brynn, Simpson, Hunt, Gitau, McCormick, Forss, McCabe, Stott, Lennon, Matthews, Bakre
Subs: Woolston, Nkrumah, Patterson-Powell, Finch, Cartwright, Tawiah, Fisher
Lyon U21: Da Silva, Barisic, Lomami, Mounsesse, Chaib, Dorival, de Carvalho, Garnier, Molébé, Rodriguez, Perret
Subs: Lega, Marques da Silva, Coponat, Alamine Ali, Llahona, Kango, Yahia
Boro started the second half on the front foot. After some smart play down the left-hand side, Matthews played a ball across the box, but Yacine Chaib intercepted it well to deny Hazeem Bakre a shot on goal.
Marcus Forss was next to come close for Boro. A towards the back post saw Harley Hunt head back across goal to find Forss but his header went narrowly over the top.
As Boro continued to dominate George Gitau drilled an effort from distance into the bottom corner but Da Silva saved well.
George McCormick almost found the breakthrough in added time. The fullback directed his header into the corner but Da Silva parried his effort away.
Despite Boro's dominance in the second half, the visitors withstood the pressure and claimed all three points.
