Manchester Utd vs Lyon prediction: EUROPE: Europa League – Play Offs betting tips on match 2025-04-16 19:00.
[p]Manchester United’s worst season in a generation has one potential saving grace, but that places huge pressure on the second leg of this UEFA Europa League (UEL) quarter-final against Lyon. It’s win or bust for the Red Devils, who were held to a 2-2 draw in the first leg thanks to a pair of mistakes from goalkeeper André Onana. He was subsequently left out of the squad at the weekend as United were hammered 4-1 by Newcastle in the Premier League.[/p]
[p]Ruben Amorim’s men have no time to feel sorry for themselves heading into this encounter, for which they will be without first-leg scorer Joshua Zirkzee, who went off injured at the weekend. That 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, but United were unbeaten in their 14 prior meetings (W10, D4), a record which includes a pair of victories over Lyon.[/p]
[p]Morale is bound to be much higher in the away camp, with Lyon 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 UEFA 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 UEFA semi-final in club history.[/p]
[p]That rings especially true when considering that Lyon have avoided defeat in each of their last 12 UEL 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). Lyon are up against history despite that, as they’ve failed to progress from all nine European ties since 1964 when they’ve drawn the first leg at home.[/p]
[p]Players to watch: Bruno Fernandes’ last seven UEL goals have come at Old Trafford in Manchester United victories (W4), although all four also saw both sides score. Lyon striker Georges Mikautadze has directly contributed to a whopping 11 goals in his last six club matches (G5, A6), assisting their 95th-minute equaliser in the first leg. [/p]
[p]Hot stat: Manchester United have kept one clean sheet in their last 13 home games (W5, D2, L6), conceding first ten times in that run.[/p]
[p][i]Written by Ryan Fisher[/i][/p]