Manchester United vs. Lyon Preview

By: Inara | March 2nd, 2008

Besides the Liverpool, Arsenal, and Chelsea fans who have burdened the shoulders of Juninho & Co with the massive weight of their expectations (they all want Lyon to stop Lord Wrigley), most people know that walking away from Old Trafford as winners will be difficult to achieve at best. Damn near impossible, some would say.

But Lyon’s courage will not fail them because what else do they have left? They can’t afford to be weak, and they can’t afford to give up. It’s as simple as that. Lyon can’t even consider the possibility of surrender – and neither will Manchester United. And the territory is theirs.

March 4, 2008
Old Trafford Stadium, Manchester
2:45 PM Eastern Time (20:45 CET, 19:45 GMT)

Match Background:

Waaaahhhh.

What a strange, strange, position to be in. This is the first time in five years that Lyon are away for the second leg of the knockout rounds. Even stranger, they go into the game as heavy underdogs (that away goal they conceded doesn’t help). Besides Claude Puel and Jeremy Toulalan (and maybe the 2 Bs when they aren’t being moody), everyone else in the world thinks Lyon will be the losers on Tuesday.

To make up for the lack of confidence and arrogance typically expected of the French, Manchester United are picking up the slack with comments like, “O fo sho we be qualifyin’ yo ” (Sir Fergie), “Is good, we will have win” (Cristiano Ronaldo), “We’re gonna ‘ammer them frogs! Blimey!” (Wayne Rooney), “Hrm yeah” (Paul Scholes), and “I need an excuse to show the world my hairy chest again” (Ryan Giggs).

But what’s new in life? Ever since Michael Essien left, no one’s been taking Lyon seriously. Hell, even Lyon haven’t been taking themselves seriously. Winning Ligue 1 for six consecutive years has given the club a rather big melon énorme and has definitely made some of players play at half gear. Hence the inability to make things happen on a European level.

Call me crazy, but I think this season – the worst Lyon have had in a long time – is in fact their best season. Losing has been good for them. With Bordeaux hot on their heels, Lyon have actually being working for their wins (hard to believe, I know). And that drive that’s been missing has reappeared, coupled with a healthy dose of fear and desperation.

Of course their form has been see-sawing between imperial and crappy, but the difference from last year and this year is that in the games that really matter, Lyon are just a little bit more hungry.

The Teams:

I don’t really see the point of listing little pre-match trivia, especially when it’s all in United’s favor. But I’ll do it anyway because I wouldn’t be much of a blogger if I didn’t. So here goes.

This season, United are undefeated in the CL, with five wins and two draws. The only goal they conceded at Old Trafford was against Sporting Lisbon back in November. They’re also unbeaten at home against French opposition, with seven wins and three draws. They seem to be scoring goals for fun, and their defense actually repels goals. Weird, right? They’re also within one point of EPL leaders Arsenal, so they have momentum going for them.

Lyon seem to have their shit together, but you can never be too sure. As I said earlier, Lyon’s wildly fluctuating form this season would almost make you think the entire team are on meds (I’ve been wondering at the excessive doping checks), though I’m going to go out on a limb and say that the team is almost looking like the champions they’re supposed to be. Almost.

For a crucial five seconds, Carlos Tevez made Lyon look like amateurs.

The last time Lyon were in England, they were also at Old Trafford, where they lost 2-1. Besides that game, Lyon have played only three other times in England (one win, one draw, and one defeat). Their only other Champions League game in England was against Arsenal in 2000, which was a loss. Their win was back in the 1990’s against Blackburn in the UEFA Cup.

While Lyon have never progressed to the quarterfinals without notching a win in the first leg, they also have the best away record in European competition, having recorded only 13 losses in 89 away games. Not bad, right? And while Old Trafford is going to have an electric atmosphere…well, we remember what Lyon thought about Ibrox’s atmosphere. Because at the end of the day, fans don’t score goals for you. So to those 80,000 United fans hoping to scare Lyon, just quit while you’re ahead. People waving post cards in the air don’t scare us.

Player News:

Manchester United rested Cristiano Ronaldo, Wayne Rooney, Michael Carrick, Ryan Giggs, and Anderson over the weekend against Fulham. It doesn’t take a genius to guess why. Interestingly, Paul Scholes played the full 90 minutes, so I’m guessing he won’t be starting on Tuesday. Too bad. He’s definitely a weak spot in the United midfield, and you can always hope he’ll pick up a red card.

Le groupe mancuniens (to be confirmed): Van der Sar, Kuszczak – Brown, Ferdinand, Vidic, Evra, O’Shea, Simpson, Park, Pique – Hargreaves, Carrick, Scholes, Anderson, Nani, Eagles – Ronaldo, Rooney, Tevez, Giggs, Saha

On the Lyon side of things, guess who’s back? Cris of course. And because he looked oh so good against Lille over the weekend, he might even start. Jean-Alain Boumsong, who was a bit of a concern for the Lille match, appears to have made a full recovery.

I’m also relieved to note that Fabio Grosso is fit again. There were some worries that he wouldn’t recover from his sore knee in time for Tuesday’s match, which would have sucked because right now, we have no back ups in that position.

Le groupe lyonnais: Coupet, Vercoutre, Roux – Clerc, Squillaci, Boumsong – Cris, Grosso – Källström, Toulalan, Bodmer, Beynié – Juninho – Mounier, Delgado, Ben Arfa, Govou, Keita, Fred, Benzema.

Anthony Reveillere is suspended thanks to picking up three yellow cards. Damn him. Marc Crosas is cuptied with Barcelona, so he can’t play for Lyon in the CL. To compensate, Anthony Mounier and Romain Beynie have been included.

Tactics:

This is going to be a HUGE dilemma for Alain Perrin. Two strikers or one? Karim Benzema has been Lyon’s lone striker for most of this season, and we can all agree that he plays his best in a central role. But in the last two games, Perrin has started Fred in the central striker and pushed Benzema to the left, as a sort of winger. And while that has boosted Fred’s efficiency (three goals in the last two games), Benzema threw a huge tantrum (Hatem Ben Arfa may or may not have also played a role in this).

Coupet
Clerc – Squillaci – Boumsong – Grosso
Juninho – Toulalan – Kallstrom
Govou – Benzema – Ben Arfa

This time, there is no choice about the fullbacks. With only two available (thank god there is one for each side), that leaves Francois Clerc and Fabio Grosso. Perrin must not be happy with this because these two aren’t known for their defensive abilities and have worse tracking back skills than some of Lyon’s attackers. But damn they make beautiful runs up the flanks.

The big question mark (okay, one of the big question marks) is who will be at the heart of the defense. This is the first time since the season started that Lyon have three healthy, qualified central defenders. Jean-Alain Boumsong has looked pretty good in the last few weeks, and had an excellent game against United in the first leg and was probably Lyon’s best defender in that match. Cris looked oh so fine against Lille,and besides a few moments where it was obvious he hadn’t recovered all his pace yet, he reminded us once again what it was like to have a confident defense. Sebastien Squillaci has played in all but one of Lyon’s games this season, and despite putting in some half-assed performances lately, he’s very experienced and can be trusted to do a good job.

It’s tempting for many to go with Boumsong and Cris based on current form, but I would prefer Squillaci paired with either of the other two. Both Boumsong and Cris are bold defenders who throw their bodies around and pop up all over the pitch whereas Squillaci is safe (and predictable). I think healthy CB pairs needs both, sort of a yin and yang thing. My choice would be Boumsong only because I don’t think Cris is ready to play United after only one competitive match. Had he played against Metz last weekend, my choice would be different.

In midfield, the only toss up is Kim Kallstrom or Mathieu Bodmer. Kallstrom has been the starter all season, is great at being the link between Jeremy Toulalan and the more attacking players, and more importantly, he contributes defensively. Bodmer on the other hand is a better attacking option and had a great game against Lille. He’s also more of a goal threat. But he’s awful at maintaining possession.

If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.

Up front, I’m going to go with the tried and tested. I know there’s a chance that we could see Fred in the center and Benzema on the left, but I think that Perrin would be stupid to experiment in such a big game. Two games with that formation isn’t enough for a proper analysis no matter the results, and you’d have to be REALLY stupid to utilize a formation which stifles the qualities of the player most likely to win you the game (Benzema).

Hatem Ben Arfa hasn’t started the last three games, but I hope he starts this one. He’ll make life hell for whatever defender he comes up against, and he looked really good yesterday against Lille. Hopefully his timeout has taught him that it’s okay to pass the ball sometimes.

Also check out L’Equipe’s analysis of the situation.

Viewing Options:

For those of you who have ESPN or FSC, you can’t watch this match on TV. Only Setanta will be broadcasting it, though ESPN Deportes will be showing the match on tape delay at 5 PM. Otherwise, check out streaming links here (they’ll be posted about an hour before kick off). I’ll do my best to post the best one in the comments section of the match day post.

Don’t forget that you can buy a clear stream in several different languages from UEFA/ESPN/Setanta for $7.95.

Expected Results:

Lyon looked so-so against Lille yesterday while United are in peak form, so perhaps a United win seems obvious. But the fact that United feel they should beat Lyon and are in fact underestimating them may fill them with regrets later, especially if Lyon score first. Lyon have the ability to make United suffer and can certainly make this a very nervy encounter for them.

Don’t expect a goal fest. It will be a tactical (read: cagey) match that will be determined by whoever scores first – and yes, I think Lyon will score. So this game will be an especially nervy encounter for United.

I refuse to guess the score. I don’t want to jinx anything.