Manchester United vs Lyon Preview

Manchester United will look to continue what has been a solid Europa League campaign when they welcome Lyon to Old Trafford this Thursday in the second leg of their quarter final tie.

The Red Devils secured a 2-2 draw in the first leg, with the game overshadowed by Andre Onana’s mistakes in the United goal. The Cameroonian was replaced in their weekend Premier League game against Newcastle United.

However, his replacement, Altay Bayındır didn’t fare any better as United were beaten 4-1, ensuring that they will finish this season with their lowest Premier League tally in history. Things are better in the Europa League, where Man United remain the only unbeaten side across all major European club cup competitions.

While Ruben Amorim’s men have no time to feel sorry for themselves heading into this encounter, the fact that they will be without first-leg scorer Joshua Zirkzee, who went off injured at the weekend, has dealt a huge blow to their chances here.

The attacker’s injury depletes their already scarce attacking options as they look to earn a first win at Old Trafford in three meetings against French opposition after a pair of defeats to PSG. However, United were unbeaten in their 14 prior meetings (W10, D4), a record which includes a pair of victories over Lyon.

Meanwhile, Lyon will travel to Manchester in good spirits after emerging 3-1 winners over Auxerre on Sunday for a seventh victory in nine matches since the start of March (D1, L1). Les Gones remain in the hunt for Champions League qualification domestically too.

But, Paulo Fonseca’s men must sense a huge opportunity against wounded opposition as they look to progress to just a fifth European semi-final in club history. That rings especially true when considering that Lyon have avoided defeat in each of their last 12 Europa League away matches dating back to December 2017 (W9, D3), while they’ve also been beaten just once in their last nine H2Hs with English sides (W4, D4).