Key events
The Lyon manager Paulo Fonseca is currently serving a nine-month domestic ban for confronting a referee. Nick Ames spoke to him.
Team news: Man Utd unchanged
Ruben Amorim sticks with the XI that started the goalless draw against Manchester City on Sunday. Kobbie Mainoo is back among the substitutes for United.
There are plenty of familiar names in the Lyon side. Arsenal alumnus Ainsley Maitland-Niles and World Cup-winner Nicolas Tagliafico are the full-backs, former Bayern Munich midfielder Corentin Tolisso is in midfield and Georges Mikautadze – arguably the best No9 at Euro 2024 – is up front.
Lyon (4-3-3) Perri; Maitland-Niles, Mata, Niakhate, Tagliafico; Tolisso, Akouokou, Veretout; Cherki, Mikautadze, Almada.
Substitutes: Descamps, Diarra, Lacazette, Abner Vinicius, Kumbedi, Omari, Molebe, Matic, Barisic, De Carvalho, Caleta-Car, Rodriguez.
Man Utd (3-4-2-1) Onana; Mazraoui, Maguire, Yoro; Dalot, Casemiro, Ugarte, Dorgu; Fernandes, Garnacho; Hojlund.
Substitutes: Bayindir, Heaton, Lindelof, Mount, Zirkzee, Eriksen, Shaw, Mainoo, Amass, Moorhouse, Kamson, Kukanki.
Referee Glenn Nyberg (Sweden).
Preamble
This is trash talk at its most compelling.
This is not.
Welcome to live coverage of Lyon v Manchester United in the Europa League quarter-final. The build-up to this match, a European quarter-final between two big clubs, appears to have been reduced to a forensic analysis of Andre Onana’s save percentage.
The spat between Onana and Nemanja Matic, which registered 7.9 on the Souness/Moffat scale of unlikely football rivalries – feels a bit low-rent, even if Matic demonstrated a level of comedic facial disdain last seen when Jimmy Gandolfini was playing Tony Soprano.
Lyon and United are in the odd position of being desperate to win a competition they don’t want to be in. Lyon, who were Champions League semi-finalists as recently as 2020, will hope to return to that competition next season. They are fifth in Ligue 1 but only four points behind Marseille in second.
They can also qualify for the Champions League by winning the Europa League. This competition is the only chance for United, who have had such a bad season that the fact they are 13th in the Premier League is no longer news. They are starting to improve under Ruben Amorim, particularly in defence.
Lyon, who have scored 29 goals in their last 10 games, will put that improvement to the test.
Kick off 8pm.
The second leg is at Old Trafford a week tonight, with the winners playing either Rangers or Athletic Bilbao in the semi-final.
