cease immediately." The following day, Saint-Étienne announced they and Malbranque had agreed to a mutual termination of his contract. There was another circulated that Malbranque would consider retirement, something that denied by Malbranque himself. Return to Lyon On 2 August 2012, it was confirmed by Malbranque's first club Lyon that he was being taken on trial with the view to a permanent contract. On 25 August 2012 Malbranque signed a one-year contract with Lyon after spending three weeks with the club. In his first game after returning to Lyon, Malbranque played a superb game against Valenciennes being paired with Maxime Gonalons in midfield and helped his team win the game 3–2. He played the next game for Lyon on 16 September, against Ajaccio and in 75th minute of the match he delivered an assist to Lisandro to make the final result 2–0 for Lyon. In a UEFA Europa League tie against Hapoel Kiryat Shmona on 4 October, Malbranque delivered another key assist, this time from a corner in the 93rd minute for Gueïda Fofana to head the ball into the net and make the final result 4–3 for Lyon. On 21 October Lyon played against Brest and it was again Malbranque with a wonderful chip assist in the 57th minute for Gomis to make the final result 1–0 for Lyon. On 4 November, Lyon encountered Bastia at Gerland and Malbranque assisted for Briand and two minutes later scored a penalty himself in the 95th minute to make the final score 5–2 for Lyon. On 11 November, he assisted from a free kick for Gonalons in Sochaux, but Sochaux equalised through Sloan Privat in the 71st minute and the match ended 1–1. A week later Lyon played against Reims and won 3–0 with Malbranque assisting Lisandro for the third goal in the 90th minute. On 28 November, with Lyon visiting Marseille, Malbranque scored a volley from Lacazette's cross making it 3–0 for Lyon. The game eventually ended with Lyon winning 4–1, with Gomis adding Lyon's fourth goal. He made his sixth Ligue 1 assist of the season for Michel Bastos' equaliser against Nancy on 12 December 2012, with the game ending 1–1. During the same month, Malbranque would sign a new contract with the club, which will keep him until 2014. In their first league game of 2013, Lyon played away against ESTAC Troyes on 12 January winning the match 2–1,