Key events
Europa League previews and predictions
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.
“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.
The players on a yellow card
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Lyon Ainsley Maitland-Niles, Moussa Niakhate, Corentin Tolisso, Alexandre Lacazette.
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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.
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.