[Lucky McLuckerson]

......................VS......................

Date: Thursday, April 10 2025
Kickoff Time: 2000 Hrs BST
Venue: Parc Olympique Lyonnais, Lyon, France

Europa League Form Guide

Manchester United: WWWDW
Olympique Lyonnais: WDDWW


Previous Europa League Meetings

N/A


All-Time Europa League Record

Manchester United wins:
Olympique Lyonnais wins:
Draws:


Pre-Match Pressers

Rubén Amorim




Nemanja Matić





Team News

Manchester United

Lisandro Martínez, Amad Diallo, Ayden Heaven, Jonny Evans and Chido Obi ruled out. Matthijs de Ligt and Kobbie Mainoo doubtful.


Olympique Lyonnais

Ernest Nuamah and Malick Fofana doubtful.


Know the opposition

Olympique Lyonnais, commonly referred to as simply Lyon (and nicknamed Les Gones or L'OL), is a French professional football club based in Lyon, Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes. Olympique Lyonnais was initially formed under the multisports club Lyon Olympique Universitaire, which was originally formed in 1896 as Racing Club de Lyon. In 1899, Olympique de Lyon formed a football team within the multisport club. On 26 August 1950, played its first official match defeating CA Paris-Charenton 3–0 in front of 3,000 supporters.

Lyon won its first ever Ligue 1 title in 2002, starting a national record-breaking streak of seven successive titles. During that run the club also won one Coupe de France title, its first Coupe de la Ligue title and a record six Trophée des Champions. The club also performed well in UEFA competitions, reaching as far as the quarter-finals on three occasions and the semi-finals in 2010 in the UEFA Champions League. Lyon's streak and consistent dominance of French football came to an end during the 2008–09 season, when it lost the title to Bordeaux.

Lyon was a member of the G14 group of leading European football clubs and are founder members of its successor, the European Club Association. They have a long-standing rivalry with nearby team Saint-Étienne, against whom they contest the Derby Rhône-Alpes. Olympique Lyonnais plays its home matches at the Parc Olympique Lyonnais, commercially known as the Groupama Stadium.



Referee

Glenn Nyberg.


Familiar Faces

Nemanja Matić (2017—22)

 

[thisisnottaken1]

Gonna very much be a tough one. Expecting a 1-1 draw at best.

 

[DWelbz19]

Cherki audition tapes

 

[Ollie Derbyshire]

Pretty positive for a good performance here. The team is coming together now and we’re starting to put in solid performances consistently without albeit the end product.

I’m hopeful we’ll get a couple of goals in this one.

 

[Irwin99]

I'm sure I read they had one or two injuries to some good players. Hopefully that'll work in our favor if true. Nervous about this one. If we play as well as we did against Soceidad then we should be alright.

 

[Livewire1974]

Quietly confident. Going 2-0 for us.

Top city to visit.

 

[bosnian_red]

Will be a tough game, just need to avoid defeat and I'll feel confident for the home game. Probably similar lineup to what started today but with zirkzee in.

 

[Chicharo]

Anyone here who watches Lyon and can share some insight on what to expect from them?

 

[Offside]

Interesting. They’re only 2 points off 2nd. I think we should be winning over 2 legs though. Will likely be a slog but we seem to be better in Europe for some reason.

 

[Trex]

Interesting. They’re only 2 points off 2nd. I think we should be winning over 2 legs though. Will likely be a slog but we seem to be better in Europe for some reason.

Problem is an it's the same issue against Forest, Arsenal, City etc where would the goals come from. Include just one quality forward and I'll be super confident.

 

[Maluco]

We can’t play Hojlund for this one. Better to go with big Harry and get crossing.

 

[FriedClams]

Anyone here who watches Lyon and can share some insight on what to expect from them?

Yeah, they are an extremely slow team which should help us you would think, if only most of our team weren't also ridiculously slow. They concede very easily.

 

[Offside]

Problem is an it's the same issue against Forest, Arsenal, City etc where would the goals come from. Include just one quality forward and I'll be super confident.

Need Fernandes to find his scoring touch as he seems to in Europe.

 

[DJ_21]

Most important game of the season. Need to get a positive result to take back to OT

 

[LawCharltonBest]

I think it’ll be very similar to the Sociedad first leg.

1-1 when we should have won easily

 

[Livewire1974]

They concede very easily.

Not important for us really.

 

[Trex]

Need Fernandes to find his scoring touch as he seems to in Europe.

That 4-1 win over Socieded was a miracle. We got pens, without that we would have made it difficult.

 

[Walters_19_MuFc]

Zirkzee
Bruno Mount
Dorgu Casemiro Ugarte Dalot
Shaw De Ligt Mazraoui
Onana​

Shaw is a risk and he probably won't and shouldn't start, but that's what I'd go with.

 

[Northstand]

Hopefully one of Maguire and De Ligt is fit to start.

 

[Flying high]

Zirkzee
Bruno Mount
Dorgu Casemiro Ugarte Dalot
Shaw De Ligt Mazraoui
Onana​

Shaw is a risk and he probably won't and shouldn't start, but that's what I'd go with.

I wouldn't be starting Shaw in such an important game. Especially when Yoro and Mazraoui have been doing well.

Give him some minutes against the barcodes next week.

 

[Revival2024]

Zirkzee
Bruno Mount
Dorgu Casemiro Ugarte Dalot
Shaw De Ligt Mazraoui
Onana​

Shaw is a risk and he probably won't and shouldn't start, but that's what I'd go with.

As opposed to keeping the current backline that just kept a clean sheet? Shaw definitely should not start. The club should be planning to have him moved on. When Heaven returns, he should be streets ahead of him.

 

[Posh Red]

Zirkzee
Bruno Mount
Dorgu Casemiro Ugarte Dalot
Shaw De Ligt Mazraoui
Onana​

Shaw is a risk and he probably won't and shouldn't start, but that's what I'd go with.

Looks a bit toothless, to be honest. Maybe a draw isn’t the worst result for the first leg, though.

 

[CM]

I hope we have a bit more cutting edge than the last two matches. Results aside, we've been painful to watch.

 

[Walters_19_MuFc]

As opposed to keeping the current backline that just kept a clean sheet? Shaw definitely should not start. The club should be planning to have him moved on. When Heaven returns, he should be streets ahead of him.

It's clear Amorim wants a left footed player in the left centre back role, hence his inclusion. However, as I said, he probably won't and shouldn't start.....

 

[Bwuk]

De Ligt for Maguire if he's fit.

Onana
Mazraoui - Maguire - Yoro
Dalot - Bruno - Casemiro - Dorgu
Garnacho - Zirkzee - Mount​

 

[AngeloHenriquez]

De Ligt for Maguire if he's fit.

Onana
Mazraoui - Maguire - Yoro
Dalot - Bruno - Casemiro - Dorgu
Garnacho - Zirkzee - Mount​

I'd start Bruno over Mount and Ugarte in the 6 as we don't need to win the game. A draw would be a great result and put is in control of the tie and Ugarte/ Casemiro offers more defensive support and the return leg I would probably start Bruno deeper.

 

[jderbyshire]

De Ligt for Maguire if he's fit.

Onana
Mazraoui - Maguire - Yoro
Dalot - Bruno - Casemiro - Dorgu
Garnacho - Zirkzee - Mount​

I think De Ligt is injured and will be unavailable for a while.

Amorim has said after yesterday's match they were managing Maguire's minutes ago I expect he will start.

One thing I'm wondering, is why was Collyer not in the squad yesterday?

 

[Olecurls99]

Onana
Mazraoui De Ligt Yoro
Dalot Ugarte Bruno Dorgu
Garnacho Zirkzee
Hojlund

 

[JB08]

I can't see Casemiro starting again given he played the full match yesterday. I also think De Ligt is injured.

Onana
Mazraoui - Maguire - Yoro
Dalot - Ugarte - Fernandes - Dorgu
Garnacho - Zirkzee
Hojlund
​

If Mount is fit there's a sizeable argument for him staring in Garnacho's place, but I don't think we'll risk it. Looking at the XI really highlights how much we miss Amad, and how poor our attacking options are.

 

[Valencia Shin Crosses]

Problem is an it's the same issue against Forest, Arsenal, City etc where would the goals come from. Include just one quality forward and I'll be super confident.

Yeah it's difficult for me to expect results against anyone right now because our forwards are so bottom tier. I'd could see us losing or I could see us winning 3-0 if luck falls our way.

I do think we won't have an issue playing against them though which is good.

 

[Zico1982]

We can’t play Hojlund for this one. Better to go with big Harry and get crossing.

Seriously? Harry is good for headers in the box, if we are chasing a goal at the end. Can you really imagine him running to get in front of a defender for crosses?

Obi is not allowed to play in the Europa League, so like it or not. It is between ZZ and Rasmus.

I would go for something like this:

Onana
Mazraoui-MDL-Yoro
Dalot-Bruno-Casemiro-Dorgu
Mount-Eriksen
Rasmus


I need Garnacho to be on the bench after the last games.

 

[Shane88]

Have to be careful with set pieces, Juninho is deadly.

 

[next_number_seven]

Seriously? Harry is good for headers in the box, if we are chasing a goal at the end. Can you really imagine him running to get in front of a defender for crosses?

Obi is not allowed to play in the Europa League, so like it or not. It is between ZZ and Rasmus.

I would go for something like this:

Onana
Mazraoui-MDL-Yoro
Dalot-Bruno-Casemiro-Dorgu
Mount-Eriksen
Rasmus


I need Garnacho to be on the bench after the last games.

I'd play Zirkzee ahead of Hojlund.

I'm not sure Mount is fit enough to start.

 

[red_de_pologne]

Zirkzee has to start. I'm fairly confident we're winning the tie, hopefully the first game too.

 

[Wrecking ralf]

Bruno needs to start cm for this. He changes the game for us with his build up play. We're better off sticking with Hojlund up top as Zirkzee plays better as the 10. He makes the better movements to allow Dorgu to overlap too. I really wanna see us with Heaven and Yoro either side of De Ligt but I think this game comes too soon for that.

Zirkzee Hojlund Mount​

Dorgu Bruno Casemiro Dalot

Yoro De Ligt Mazraoui​

Onana​

 

[BorisManUtd]

I can't see Casemiro starting again given he played the full match yesterday. I also think De Ligt is injured.

Onana
Mazraoui - Maguire - Yoro
Dalot - Ugarte - Fernandes - Dorgu
Garnacho - Zirkzee
Hojlund
​

If Mount is fit there's a sizeable argument for him staring in Garnacho's place, but I don't think we'll risk it. Looking at the XI really highlights how much we miss Amad, and how poor our attacking options are.

He started and finished first game vs Sociedad and the game vs Arsenal and then started 2nd leg vs Sociedad and played for 78 minutes. That was all in space of 7 days. Think he'll start this one as well, it's just a question whether it's Bruno or Ugarte next to him.

 

[Denis' cuff]

He started and finished first game vs Sociedad and the game vs Arsenal and then started 2nd leg vs Sociedad and played for 78 minutes. That was all in space of 7 days. Think he'll start this one as well, it's just a question whether it's Bruno or Ugarte next to him.

Big fellas need regular games to stay sharp. Remember Fergie saying this re: both Eric and Rooney

 

[USREDEVIL]

Gonna very much be a tough one. Expecting a 1-1 draw at best.

samesies

 

[USREDEVIL]

Onana
Mazraoui De Ligt Yoro
Dalot Ugarte Bruno Dorgu
Garnacho Zirkzee
Hojlund

Looks a bit agressive but yeah. Maybe mount for hojlund

Onana
Mazz De light yoro
Dalot ugarte bruno dorgu
mount garnacho
zirks

 

[horsechoker]

Nemanja Matić (2017—22)

Rest in peace