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6 min Mata is back on his feet and play resumes. Garnacho is fouled again on the right wing by Akouokou, this time higher up the field. Fernandes will take the free-kick…
4 min The last time these teams met was in the last 16 of the Champions League 17 years ago. Karim Benzema, a 20-year-old wanted by every big team in Europe, hammered Lyon ahead in the home leg. Carlos Tevez scored a late equaliser in France and Cristiano Ronaldo settled the tie at Old Trafford.
Champions League: Man Utd 1-0 Lyon
3 min There’s another break in play when Mata lands awkwardly after jumping for a high ball with Hojlund. I think he’ll be okay.
2 min “I’ll be following your updates, but I’ve got the Masters on one screen and Bilbao on the other,” says Joe Pearson. “I might have placed a little wager on the Athletic Club to win the tournament. Maybe.”
1 min Garnacho writhes in pain after being fouled from behind by Akouokou. The referee settles for a warning to Akouokou.
1 min Peep peep! Lyon kick off from right to left as we watch.
There’s a belting atmosphere at the Parc Olympique Lyonnais, and Andre Onana has been greeted about as warmly as Emi Martinez in Paris last night.
A reminder of the teams
Apparently this is the first time Ruben Amorim has named an unchanged side since joining Man Utd.
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).
[Is this the biggest game since you’ve been at the club?] I don’t see it that way. We have the opportunity in this competition to conquer something from the season and go into the Champions League but at Manchester United every game is important.
[On Rasmus Hojlund] I just wants Rasmus to do his job. He is improving in a lot of things. I know everybody looks at the goals – of course he wants to score but he is doing things quite well and helping the team.
We need to be aggressive. I know the coach really well. They have the physicality and they play really well with the ball. We have to be really aggressive and also smart in every detail of the game. We are ready for that.
It sounds like a number of Man Utd supporters are struggling to make it to the ground in time for kick-off. I’m sure we’ll hear more about that after the game.
Lyon will be missing their young wingers Ernest Nuamah and Malick Fofana when they host Manchester United on Thursday, which is a huge blow given their penchant for attacking down the flanks. The good news for Paulo Fonseca is that he will be able to call upon Rayan Cherki and Thiago Almada to carry out the attacking duties either side of Corentin Tolisso, with Georges Mikautadze leading the line.
Europa League: previews and predictions for the quarter-finals
“So I suppose there is little chance of the classic ‘muted celebration against his old club’ when Nemanja Matic inevitably pops up late in the game to nod home a corner?” sys Justin Kavanagh. “Or, even funnier, to beat Onana with a 25-yard daisy cutter that bounces wickedly over the stooping arms of the worst keeper in United’s modern history?”
As anyone who bought a burger at an English ground in the 1980s will confirm, weird beef has always been a thing in football. But I’ll be real with you, I didn’t see this bit coming.
- Lyon Ainsley Maitland-Niles, Moussa Niakhate, Corentin Tolisso, Alexandre Lacazette.
- Manchester United Casemiro.
Meet Eric Cantona, a man who knows the value of everything and the price of nothing.
Spurs play the 2022 winners Eintracht Frankfurt at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. Simon Burnton has the team news for that one.
Man Utd fans are reportedly having an exasperating time in Lyon. According to Simon Peach of the Press Association, they’ve been forced to go from the stadium to another location to get a wristband that allows them in to watch the match. Tremendous.
Alan Hudson, the Chelsea maverick of the early 1970s, said football was ‘the working man’s ballet’. In 2025 that last word probably needs a different second syllable.
#MUFC fans facing a ridiculous situation in Lyon. Stadium already miles out of town & they’re being forced to another location by authorities to collect a wristband, before being sent on a bus to the ground https://t.co/H4vFvUAKvO
— Simon Peach (@SimonPeach) April 10, 2025
The Lyon manager Paulo Fonseca is currently serving a nine-month domestic ban for confronting a referee. Nick Ames spoke to him.
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).
Andre Onana receives a resounding welcome from the home fans. Photograph: Andrew Couldridge/Action Images/Reuters
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.
