Manchester United vs Lyon
Manchester United still hopes to win the Europa League to bring a little light to the end of a bad season. They will travel to France to face Lyon on Thursday night. Which team do you prefer? Before the game starts, let’s talk about the pre-match competitive state of the two teams so that you can have a more comprehensive understanding of the two teams.
The two teams have met four times in the Champions League before, the last time being in 2008 when Manchester United won the title. However, this game is their first meeting in the Europa League.
Manchester United Preview
Five days after losing 1-0 to Nottingham Forest in the Premier League, Manchester United were held to a 0-0 draw with city rivals Manchester City at Old Trafford on Sunday in a lacklustre game with neither side performing brilliantly.
Ruben Amorim says Manchester City fans should not expect a repeat of past derby ties given their current situation, but Red Devils fans still have high hopes for a side that Amorim claims is “improving”.
Hopes of qualifying for Europe via the Premier League are unrealistic as Manchester United are currently 13th in the league with just 38 points from 31 games, seven points behind the top half. They are heading for their worst season in the league.
However, Europa League glory is still within reach, with United the only team yet to taste defeat this season (six wins, four draws), having recently beaten Real Sociedad 5-2 on aggregate in the last 16, with captain Bruno Fernandes scoring a brilliant hat-trick in the 4-1 second-leg win last month.
In fact, Manchester United have only lost one of their last 21 Europa League games – a 0-3 defeat to Sevilla in April 2023, which was also the only time they failed to score in this period.
In addition, the Red Devils have not lost in the first leg of their past 11 European knockout matches since losing 0-1 to Barcelona in the 2019 Champions League.
Lyon pre-match preview
After a seven-match winless run from mid-January to early February, Lyon have won seven of their last 10 games, including six of their last seven, scoring 19 goals in that span
Les Roosters beat Lille 2-1 at home on Saturday, with former Arsenal striker Alexandre Lacazette and Ryan Cherki scoring before and after halftime respectively to help the team turn the tide and win.
Although head coach Paulo Fonseca has been banned for nine months for angrily confronting a referee, assistant coach Georges McKell will be in charge of the Lyon team on the sidelines. Currently, Lyon is fifth in the Ligue 1 standings, just two points away from the top three and automatic Champions League qualification, with six games left in the league.
Lyon started the season in sixth place in the 36-team Europa League standings, three places below Manchester United, before beating FCSB 7-1 on aggregate in the round of 16. They are now seeking to reach the semi-finals of a major European tournament for the first time since the 2019-20 Champions League.
However, Lyon have never won their last four meetings with Manchester United, squandering leads to draws in both home games in September 2004 (2-2) and February 2008 (1-1). Lyon have only faced one team in European competition more times than Manchester United without winning: Barcelona (8 times). They have also been eliminated in their last three two-legged knockout matches against English teams.
Lyon’s likely starting lineup
Perry; Maitland-Niles, Mata, Niacart, Tagliafico; Tesman, Matic; Cherki, Tolisso, Almada; Mikutazard.
Manchester United’s likely starting XI
Onana; Mazraoui, Maguire, Yoro; Dalot, Ugarte, Casemiro, Dolgu; Fernandez, Ganacho; Zikezi.
While Lyon have scored at least three goals in each of their past four games, United’s recent run of games has been more grueling, with just two of their past seven games yielding more than three goals, making Thursday’s clash difficult to predict.
Lyon are in good form, especially at home, but their defence has looked vulnerable at times, and while United have performed well in the Europa League this season, they may find a way to at least share the spoils and keep the second leg at Old Trafford suspenseful.