United were given a taste of what it takes to become Champions of Europe, with a lot to learn from last night’s game.
Manchester United faced Olympique Lyon at Leigh Sports Village in a Champions League fixture that was nothing but dissapointing for the Reds.
Despite not putting a goal past the French side’s net, United head coach Marc Skinner can take a lot from their 3-0 home defeat in order to keep their Champions League dreams alive.
With no shots on target and not a single touch within the opposition’s box, eight-time Champions League winners Lyon gave United a masterclass of what it takes to lift the trophy.
This is United’s first time reaching this far in the Champions League, and they were doing well until a recent 5-2 defeat against Wolfsburg, ending their undefeated run.
“It must be a goal at Manchester United to go through”
Despite the negative scoreline, Skinner remains confident in his squad’s abillity. Whether the English manager’s confidence comes from his belief in his team or the fact that his team have already secured their play-off spot for the knockout stage he was able to pick out the positives from the match.
The 42-year-old said, “I am proud of the players. There was a lot of learning. Every one of our biggest defeats, we will always come back better.
“These players are maxing. You don’t want to lose a game but you have to learn from it. It feels horrible but you have to live within the performance parameters.
“We have already qualified. That was a goal of ours, it must be a goal of ours at Manchester United to go through.”
Did physicality ruin United’s chance to win?
Lyon were able to show last night why they find themselves joint top of the standings alongside Barcelona.
After going into half-time 1-0 up, Jonatan Giráldez’s side didn’t further capitalise their lead until late in the 90 minutes, with Haitian international Melchie Dumornay’s goals happening in the final minutes of the game, only nine minutes apart from one another, really adding salt in the wound for an already defeated United.
Skinner recognises weaknesses from the game, stating, “In the first half we gave them too much respect. They’ve got a cheat code, [Dumornay] just presses a button and wraps it into the top corner,”
However, some may argue the issues lie with Skinner taking a more physical approach when selecting his lineup, with the coach leaving big-name players, Jess Park and Ella Toone on the bench.
Many saw this decision from Skinner as a risky move that failed to pay off, with the two midfielders having experience playing in big games under Sarina Wiegman’s England team at the most recent European Championships, both a part of the squad that brought the trophy home this summer.
Alongside this, Skinner left integral midfielder Julia Zigiotti out of his starting 11, with Lyon’s dominance almost unable to tame without this trio on the pitch, leading Skinner to have to make far earlier substitutions than he hoped, the three players coming on to the pitch after the scoreline hit the 1-0 mark.
Even though the players made a clear difference in the game, Lyon’s threat was too high for United to control the standards of football from the two teams, almost incomparable.
Skinner on his mistakes
When Skinner was asked to review his choices post-match, he shared with reporters, You can lose a game against Lyon on set-pieces and physicality, so we had to have balance. We have four games in 10 days, so we had to be able to rotate.
“There has to be a plan ahead of all the games. The plan was to be physical and then always adapt it and change it in the second half.
“We probably didn’t get enough pressure on them in moments in the first half. I adapted it at half-time, and we got some more ball retention.
“But don’t forget, we are playing a team that is expected to win the Champions League.”
Are United out of place in the UWCL?
Although Skinner’s admission about Lyon’s potential compared to United is a hard pill to swallow for Reds fans, it is something that can’t be disputed or ignored.
The talent within Lyon’s team is outstanding, having both a former Ballon d’Or winner in Ada Hegerberg and a player part of the winning World Cup rotation in Lindsey Heaps.
Whilst the standard of United’s team is expanding, it’s hard to ignore both the talent and experience Lyon possesses, especially seen with French defensive star Wendie Renard not even utilised in last night’s game.
Skinner recognised this, saying that, “They [Lyon] have grown in experience and have built that team over a long period of time.
“The reality is you have to be at your game in every moment because if not, they can take their opportunities. They were the better team – but I would expect them to be.
“It’s a juxtaposition because I don’t want to lose games. But we also have to take a moment and go, we’ve already qualified, let’s see where we go.
“All the things you see, I see. I also know what the fix is, but you can’t do it in one moment, you have to build it. We are progressing.”
Make sure to follow UtdDistrict on X, Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, and TikTok to never miss out on any of our Manchester United content. Our podcast, What the Devil?, is streamed live every Thursday at 14:00 pm (GMT) on the United View YouTube channel.