Europa League: Season Rests on French-Anglo Euro Battle

Olympique Lyonnais vs Manchester United

And so, it comes down to this. By next Thursday night, one of these two clubs will be out of Europe and their season effectively over.

For Lyon, while a Europa League triumph would be wonderful, there is little pressure, even though they know they are contenders for the silverware and are capable of matching any of the seven other sides remaining in the competition.

For Manchester United, anything other than victory would make this campaign their most miserable for a generation and leave them without European football next season for the first time in more than a decade.

So, who gets your nod for glory: the side currently placed fifth in Ligue 1 or the team in 13^th position in the Premier League?

 

Talking Points

Lyon warmed up for this contest with a fine 2-1 home win over Lille, recovering from the shock of falling behind inside a minute to a Bafodé Diakité header. They then suffered a further blow when Ernest Nuamah had to be replaced due to injury, and it’s now been confirmed the luckless Ghanaian will be out for some time after rupturing an anterior cruciate ligament, described by manager Paulo Fonseca, who succeeded Pierre Sage in January, as a “huge setback”.

Their only upside at the weekend was the introduction of the creative Rayan Cherki, and he would grab the winner after former Premier League marksman, Lyon captain, Alexandre Lacazette levelled from the penalty spot.

Nuamah’s absence almost certainly means Cherki – who has eight assists in this season’s Europa League (two more than any other player) – will start this quarter-final first-leg tie on Thursday night.

It was a result which also showed the character of the French side who, along with AS Monaco, have secured the most points this season after falling behind in games (16 times).

On the same weekend, United were hosting their city counterparts, reigning champions Manchester City, in a goalless draw which had an element of end of season about it.

Billed by my SBOTOP colleague as a derby with a difference, it certainly was but not for necessarily all the reasons you’d expect.

While Lyon are chasing Champions League football next term via the domestic league and this competition, only Europa League 2025 highlights will suffice for the Red Devils. Both teams fared well in the group stages and qualified via the top eight, avoiding a last 32 play-off in the process.

Unbeaten so far in 10 matches under Ruben Amorim and his predecessor Erik ten Hag, United would love to triumph in the tournament for the second time in their history and repeat the marvellous achievement of Atalanta from 11 months ago.

Yet Lyon and Fonseca can be a match for anyone on their day, and this quarter-final is likely to be decided by the side which shows the most consistency.

It will be friends reunited with Nemanja Matic, who played 189 games for United between 2017 and 2022, set to marshal the home midfield, while Matic and Amorim were Benfica teammates for two seasons more than a decade ago. But there will certainly be little time for sentiment once the action starts.

 

History

Competitively, the sides have met four times in the Champions League with two United victories and two draws – at a time when both squads were stronger than they currently are.

In the 2004-05 group stages, it took a quick-fire Ruud van Nistelrooy double to rescue a point for United after they trailed to goals from Cris and Pierre-Alain Frau.

Van Nistelrooy was the hero again in the return at Old Trafford with a second-half winner after Gary Neville with a rare strike, and Mahamadou Diarra traded first-half goals in what was Sir Alex Ferguson’s 1,000^th match in charge at Old Trafford.

Fast forward to the last 16 four seasons later and another close contest tipped the way of United.

In France, it took a late Carlos Tevez equaliser to cancel out a fine opener from Karim Benzema.

The second leg was also a close-run thing with Cristiano Ronaldo scoring the only goal as United went on to be crowned champions of Europe a couple of months later.

 

Betting Tip

Our Europa League 2025 betting odds favour the home side, both 1X2 @ 2.38 and Asian Handicap -0.25 @ 2.26. This contrasts with United who are tidily priced 1X2 @ 2.70 and Asian Handicap -0.25 @ 2.47.

A third successive draw between the teams on French soil will pay out @ 3.21, while a repeat of their first meeting – a 2-2 draw – is available with Correct Score @ 13.50.

I do think another close contest beckons, and it may well be honours even after the first leg, but I am plumping for a relatively high-scoring affair.

   

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