Lyon boss says Ruben Amorim faces 'decisive moment' in Europa League quarter-final, heaps praise on 'great' Man Utd star

Paulo Fonseca takes his Lyon side to Old Trafford on Thursday night, looking to put a miserable end to Manchester United’s woeful season.

Despite having over a month left to play, Thursday night is the season decider for Ruben Amorim and his underwhelming Manchester United side.

The Red Devils sit 14th in the Premier League right now, with little prospect of pushing up toward the top 10, let alone challenging for any of the European spots this season – currently 10 points adrift of 10th.

Due to this, winning the Europa League is United’s only route to European football next season, and beating Lyon on Thursday is the only way to keep the season alive beyond this week with nothing else to play for.

The first leg of the quarter-final ended in a 2-2 draw in France, but United were the better team, which should give Old Trafford confidence that it can witness another big European win.

Now, ahead of the game, the Lyon manager has been discussing the fixture, Amorim and Andre Onana.

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Paulo Fonseca speaks ahead of Manchester United vs Lyon

The Lyon side arrived in Manchester on Wednesday, and at Old Trafford, Paulo Fonseca was quickly in front of the media discussing the tie, as quoted by the Daily Mail’s Nathan Salt.

Beginning, Fonseca revealed his verdict on Onana after his horror show for United last week in Lyon, while admitting he is preparing to face the Red Devils at their best.

“They have a great goalkeeper… Onana is a great goalkeeper, we know this.

“I expect Manchester United’s strongest performance of the season,” he added.

“They are a big team and a big club. True, in the Premier League, they are not what they were. It has been a bit different, but in the Europa League, they have put in some good performances and have a lot of individual skills.

“I expect to be playing against the best United there is. It is a decisive moment for Manchester United. They will be super motivated for the match.”

Every fan in attendance would be shocked if we got to see United at their best, considering this is not a regular thing. Fonseca also added that he sees the game as a decisive one for Amorim.

“For Ruben, it’s a decisive moment. Tomorrow we have a super motivated team.”

Fonseca then added some insight into what he is expecting from his team in the game.

“We need to have the same courage, passion… the same intensity. We need to be ourselves. We need to be our best team and have that confidence to turn up here and put our quality out on the pitch.”

Lyon had much better weekend than Manchester United

For all of Fonseca’s praise directed at United, he will be feeling like a big win at Old Trafford is absolutely possible, with Sunday’s thrashing at the hands of Newcastle revealing how poor Amorim’s team can be at times.

While United were conceding four to Newcastle, Lyon had a far better weekend as they beat Auxerre 3-1 with Rayan Cherki and Georges Mikautadze among the goals, gaining crucial confidence ahead of Thursday.

Lyon are in the Champions League spots in Ligue 1, and there is really no reason they should fear United, beyond the last home game Amorim had in the Europa League, which saw a big win over Real Sociedad.

This, however, was against 10 men, but the point remains, United have been a different team in Europe this season, and the hope is that this continues here against Lyon, setting up a semi-final clash with Athletic Bilbao or Rangers.

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