Olympique Lyon and Manchester United face off in the Europa League quarter-final first leg today, Thursday. Ex-ManUtd professional Nemanja Matic is already causing a stir ahead of the game.
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- Thursday's Europa League clash between Olympique Lyon and Manchester United (21:00 live on blue Sport).
- Lyon professional Nemanja Matic counters a statement by ManUtd goalkeeper Onana and says: "Onana is one of the worst keepers in the modern history of Manchester United."
- Onana responds with a side-swipe at the Serbian: "At least I won titles with ManUtd."
Despite their poor season in the Premier League, Manchester United go into their Europa League clash against Olympique Lyon as favorites (quarter-final first leg on Thursday, 9pm live on blue Sport). At least that's how ManUtd goalkeeper André Onana sees it. His team is "much better" than the French side, said the Cameroonian keeper ahead of the game.
Nemanja Matic is asked about Onana's statements at a press conference. And the Lyon midfielder, who himself played for Manchester United between 2017 and 2022, has a clear answer: "I respect everyone, but when someone says something like that, you have to give an answer. When you're one of the worst goalkeepers in ManUtd's history, you have to be careful what you talk about."
Rumms! And Matic adds: "If David De Gea, Peter Schmeichel or Edwin van der Sar said that, I would question myself. But when you're one of the statistically worst goalkeepers in ManUtd's modern history, he has to show something before he says that. We'll see ..."
Indeed, Matic has the arguments statistically on his side. Onana has the second-worst save percentage (70.1 percent) of any Manchester United goalkeeper who has played more than 900 minutes since 2003/04. The 29-year-old also has the lowest number of clean sheets of all United goalkeepers (26.1 percent) in this period.
Onana: "At least I've won titles"
Nevertheless, Onana's reaction is not long in coming. On X, he qualifies his statement and writes that it was not meant to be disrespectful towards Lyon. "It will be a difficult game against a strong opponent."
But the keeper can't resist a dig at Matic: "At least I've won trophies with the greatest club in the world. Others can't say that." In his five years in Manchester, Matic actually went without a title. Onana, who has kept goal for the Red Devils since 2023, won the FA Cup last year.
