PARIS: Manchester United’s lone hope of salvaging anything from a terrible season lies in the Europa League, where success is vital to helping finance a rebuild of Ruben Amorim’s underperforming squad.
United travel to Lyon for the first leg of their quarter-final on Thursday, the first meeting of the clubs since Cristiano Ronaldo’s goal settled a last-16 tie in 2008 en route to the English giants’ last Champions League title.
A dour 0-0 draw with Manchester City at the weekend left United in 13th place in the Premier League, prompting Amorim to say his side must improve “everywhere” with the team destined for their worst top-flight finish in at least 35 years.
The Europa League offers United their only route back into Europe next season, but falling short of anything but the trophy in Bilbao next month would have severe financial repercussions.
“It’s not the most important thing for Manchester United because we have a lot of things to do, but you can see it, in this season, the Europa League is really important,“ said Amorim.
“We can reach the Champions League next season, we can win something, so we are going to do everything to try to go to the next stage.”
Failure to qualify for Europe’s top competition is expected to cost United at least £100 million ($127.6 million), ramping up the pressure at a time when the club’s financial headroom is already limited, with cost-cutting measures prevalent.
“We are suffering a lot to make next year so much better and that is our goal,“ Amorim said last week, conceding time was not on his side. “We are in a rush.”
A Bruno Fernandes hat-trick fired United to a 5-2 aggregate victory over Real Sociedad in the previous round, but the Portugal midfielder says they must rediscover their “killer instinct” after failing to score in the past two outings.
Fernandes, whose 16 goals this season are almost double the amount of anyone else at United, has been told by Amorim that he is “not going anywhere” this summer despite reports of a possible move to Real Madrid.
What happens at Old Trafford in the close season though is likely to be dictated by how United end the campaign.
– Lyon coach in strange situation –
Amorim will come up against a familiar foe this week in Lyon boss and compatriot Paulo Fonseca, whose side are on a run of eight wins in 10 games despite the surreal situation of largely being without their coach on match days.
Fonseca is banned from the dugout in Ligue 1 until November after an angry confrontation with a referee last month, but the suspension does not apply to the Europa League.
Only appointed in late January following his sacking by AC Milan, Fonseca has retained the support of Lyon owner John Textor despite being unable to properly fulfil his role.
His touchline absence has not unduly affected Lyon, who are fifth in France and hunting a return to the Champions League for the first time since their run to the 2019-20 semi-finals.
Such a prospect is as important to Lyon as it is to United, with French football’s financial control body warning the seven-time champions earlier in the season that they would be relegated without drastic action to reduce debts.
That could lead to the departure of Rayan Cherki, who has struck a rich vein of form since his proposed winter move to Borussia Dortmund collapsed, scoring the winner against Lille on Saturday after Ghana winger Ernest Nuamah ruptured his ACL.
For now though Cherki is fully focused on leading Lyon’s European charge, starting with Thursday’s visit of United.
“We’re going to play with confidence and to win,“ said Cherki. “We’re ready. We’ve been waiting a long time for this. It’s going to be a battle of men. We’re going to have to go to war.”
