Manchester United travel to Groupama Stadium to face Lyon in the first leg of their Europa League quarter-final first-leg tie on Thursday night.
The Red Devils enter this contest after playing out a drab goalless stalemate with rival Manchester City in the Premier League on Sunday, a day before Lyon came from behind to beat Lille 2-1 in Ligue 1.
Both teams have now turned their attention to the Europa League and will endeavour to claim a crucial first leg-advantage before preparing for the second leg at Old Trafford in a weeks’ time.
Here, Sports Mole takes an in-depth look at the head-to-head record and previous meetings between the two sides.
Head-to-head record
Previous meetings: 4
Lyon wins: 0
Draws: 2
Man Utd wins: 2
Lyon and Manchester United have faced each other a total of four times across all competitions, with the Red Devils winning two of those and also drawing twice with their French counterparts.
The very first meeting between these two clubs took place in the group stage of the 2004-05 Champions League, when Ruud van Nistelrooy scored twice to help Man United come from two goals down at half time to draw 2-2 with Lyon at Stade Gerland in September of that season.
Just over two months later, Gary Neville scored one of his seven Man United goals to open the scoring in the reverse fixture at Old Trafford, and although Mahamadou Diarra restored parity for Lyon on the stroke of half time, Van Nistelrooy was on the scoresheet again, netting what proved to be the winner eight minutes after the interval to seal a 2-1 home victory.
Four years passed before Man United and Lyon would butt heads again in the Champions League, this time in the last 16 with Carlos Tevez netting an 87th-minute equaliser to cancel out Karim Benzema‘s opener to rescue a 1-1 first-leg draw in France.
Just a week later, Cristiano Ronaldo scored his 30th goal of the season to seal a slender 1-0 second-leg victory for Man United at Old Trafford, winning 2-1 on aggregate before going on to lift the Champions League trophy in Moscow under Sir Alex Ferguson.
Previous meetings
Sep 15, 2004: Lyon 2-2 Man Utd (Champions League Group Stage)
Nov 23, 2004: Man Utd 2-1 Lyon (Champions League Group Stage)
Feb 20, 2008: Lyon 1-1 Man Utd (Champions League Round of 16 First Leg)
Mar 04, 2008: Man Utd 1-0 Lyon (Champions League Round of 16 First Leg)
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