Before Lyon’s duel against Manchester
© Imago
Olympique Lyons Nemanja Matic, before the Europa League quarter-final duel against his ex-club Manchester United (Thursday, 9 p.m.), vigorously distributed against goalkeeper André Onana after he had titled his team as “much better” than that of the French. The 36-year-old midfielder, from 2017 to 2022 for United on the ball, answered towards Onana at the press conference on Wednesday: “Onana says they are much better than us? If you are one of the worst goalkeepers in history, you have to be careful what is said.”
The veteran continued: “If van der Sar, Schmeichel or de Gea had said that, okay … but Onana is one of the worst.” Matic referred to statistical values and believes that the keeper must first underpin his words before he externally externally.
Shortly thereafter, the denounced Onana reacted to Matatic and wrote: “I would never be disrespectful to another club. We know that it will be a difficult game against a strong opponent tomorrow. We concentrate on delivering a performance that our fans can be proud of. After all, I have brought trophies with the largest club in the world.”
The 29-year-old Camerooner switched from Inter Milan to Man United for 50.2 million euros in the summer of 2023 and became a FA-Cup winner with the English record champion in his first season. The Serb Matic, active in Lyon since the beginning of 2024, won no title with the Red Devils, but he won three championships with FC Chelsea.
Onana says: Manchester United better than Olympique Lyon
Before the first leg on Thursday, according to “Sky Sports”, on the first leg, France’s fifth in the table was a “very good team”. “We know some of them, but I don’t think we have to concentrate on them. (…) Of course it won’t be easy, but I think we are better than you. We all know how important this game is and we will go there with a winning mentality. It is not our best season, but we still have something to win and we will try.”
At 45 million euros, Onana reached the highest market value of his career at Ajax Amsterdam at the end of 2019, which is now estimated at 32 million euros due to a doping offense. At the Table-13, which is so disappointing this season. He has stood the Premier League in 93 games between the posts since he arrived, and he conceded 137 goals and kept the zero 23 times.