RedsUnite: a man utd blog

Champions League Preview

Ryan Giggs, our illustrious winger, will make his 100th Champions League appearance Wednesday when United travel to Lyon for the first leg of the knockout phase. This match will mark the third meeting between the clubs; the previous meetings were in 2004/2005 in which United drew 2-2 away and won the return 2-1. Those matches, obviously, do little to forecast Wednesday’s match, as both sides have a combined 16 players remaining from that 2004/05 season.

United, as I need to tell no one reading this article, enter tomorrow’s match coming off of their most impressive win of the season–a 4-0 drubbing of Arsenal. Our recent form has been nothing if not erratic, however, as our previous match–our 2-1 Derby embarrassment–marked the low point in the season. It has been a tale of two sides and which side makes the trip to Lyon will determine the outcome of the match.

Lyon, however, experienced the opposite fate, losing 1-0 to French club Le Mans, who has had it’s way with Lyon of late as they also knocked Lyon out of the French Cup. Losing to a side that has conceded more goals than it has scored this season is not an ideal precursor a match with Manchester United.
Their new boss Alain Perrin will enter the match with much to prove, as his takeover has only seen Lyon maintain their league standing without any recognizable improvements in form. English fans will remember him for his unsuccessful spell at Portsmouth, but he has achieved some success in France, winning the French Cup with Sochaux, according to Manchester Evening News.

Jean-Michel Aulus, Lyon’s President, was less than impressed with Lyon’s most recent outing, stating, “When you have excellent players and a competent staff, you need good results. I would have preferred to see our best possible team play against Le Mans and I also would have liked to see the players giving it their very best.”

Juninho has often spoken of Lyon’s inconsistent form this year, but Lyon’s standing as France’s top club shows that they are a side capable of better things. However, I am unsure of how good a barometer their Ligue 1 success is, as they win it every season. They are unbeaten in their last four Champions League matches, so they are capable of success against clubs that have actually won something, including a 2-2 draw against Catalan giants Barcelona.

United enter the match almost fully fit. Gary Neville and Mikael Silvestre will miss the match due to long-term injuries, but United is otherwise healthy. Cristiano Ronaldo is said to have recovered from a virus that kept him out of Saturday’s fixture and should certainly start against Lyon.

I don’t spend much time watching French football, so I can hardly hail myself as an expert on Lyon. They have a number of reputable players, however, and Manchester Evening News does a nice job breaking down tomorrow’s intriguing match-ups:

SEBASTIEN SQUILLACI V WAYNE ROONEY
Squillaci, 27, has featured in every Champions League game this season after Claudio Cacapa’s move to Newcastle gave him more first-team opportunities alongside gangly Brazilian Anderson in the heart of defence. He is likely to be pulled here, there and everywhere by the roaming Rooney tomorrow night after the Liverpudlian’s burst of superb form, culminating in Saturday’s FA Cup win over Arsenal.

HATEM BEN ARFA V WES BROWN
Lyon have struggled to dominate the French league this season compared to previous campaigns but the emergence of young left-winger Hatem Ben Arfa has been a huge plus. He has delivered on the potential shown last season to provide goals, pace and an abundance of intuitive creativity. Brown has performed well deputising for Gary Neville at right-back but will face one of his sternest tests against the diminutive Frenchman of Tunisian descent. (Manutd.com has a nice little primer on Ben Arfa.)

KARIM BENZEMA V RIO FERDINAND
Like Ben Arfa, 20-year-old forward Benzema has reportedly attracted the interest of Ferguson. Well-built but quick, Benzema is incredibly skilful and able to play anywhere along the front line but his supreme finishing means he invariably plays as a central striker. Ferdinand will need to team up with partner-in-crime Nemanja Vidic to keep Benzema under wraps, while Ben Arfa and Sidney Govou will attack from either side.

A back story for this match has been United’s rumored interest in aforementioned Lyon stars Karim Benzema and Hatem Ben Arfa. Lyon’s President, Jean-Michel Aulas, has spoken to quash such rumors, stating, “I spoke to Sir Alex. I told him that Benzema and Ben Arfa will not leave in the next two years. We want to build our future on them.” You want to build your future on them, so they won’t leave in the next two years? Sounds like a great long-term plan. Hold on to them, cultivate their talents, then sell them to us two years later when they’re fully matured footballers. Works for us.

I really can’t see United taking anything less than a draw from this match. Coming into this match on the heels of Saturday’s 4-0 massacre of Arsenal is simply too much momentum for Lyon to stop. Having lost its last match against Le Mans and struggled to find stability this season, Lyon look ripe for the picking. While they are the toughest side we could have drawn, I still see them as a tier below us. Lyon has never achieved any marked success in Europe and to fail to advance against this Lyon side would be humiliating for Manchester United. While Lyon are champions and capable of surprising anyone, I can’t imagine United slipping in this match given the importance Ferguson has given the Champions League this season. These matches should feature the best United has to offer, and if that resembles anything similar to Saturday’s victorious side Lyon will be will be out of Europe shortly.