UEFA Champions League
Champions League Knockout Round - First Leg
Stade Gerland
Wednesday, 20th February 2008; KO: 19:45 BST

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Manchester United were in France for the first leg of last season's UEFA Champions League first knockout round and 12 months later the draw
for the same stage has sent them on a similar journey.
For LOSC Lille Métropole, now read Olympique Lyonnais as Sir Alex Ferguson's team bid to go one better than last year's run to the semi-finals.


Ryan Giggs is set to make his 100th Champions League appearance for Manchester United after being rested for the

FA Cup win against Arsenal

Cristiano Ronaldo has recovered from a virus and is expected to start against Lyon at the Stade Gerland.

Gary Neville and Mikael Silvestre are the only long-term injury absentees from United's 22-man squad.

Lyon also rested players at the weekend and are expected to bring back forwards Fred and Karim Benzema.



Quote:

Originally Posted by Manchester United boss Sir Alex Ferguson: "We have got the hardest draw in terms of the teams we could have faced but I think we can navigate it successfully," Ferguson told the United website. "Lyon have won their league for the last six years and they're top again this year so I expect it to be tough. "Losing to Milan in the semi-finals last year hurt us but this year we have a better chance."

(from):
Van der Sar, Kuszczak
Evra, Hargreaves, Ferdinand, Brown, Vidic, Pique, O'Shea, Simpson
Ronaldo, Anderson, , Giggs, Park, , Carrick, Nani, Scholes, Fletcher, Eagles Tevez, Saha, Rooney


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BIG-MATCH FACTS


Olympique Lyon and Manchester United's only previous European meetings came in the 2004-05 Champions League group phase.
The first match ended in a 2-2 draw in France and the return was a 2-1 win for United.

Six Lyon players who played in those matches are still with the club - Gregory Coupet, Anthony Reveillere, Cris, Juninho Pernambucano, Sidney Govou
and Hatem Ben Arfa are the sextet.

Manchester United have 10 survivors from those two matches - Michael Silvestre, Wes Brown, Rio Ferdinand, John O'Shea, Gary Neville, Ryan Giggs,
Cristiano Ronaldo, Paul Scholes, Wayne Rooney and Darren Fletcher.
Cris scored in the opening leg, and Gary Neville in the return.


European history


Lyon's best European performance came in the 1963-64 Cup Winners' Cup when they reached the semi-finals.
Their Champions League best is three quarter-final appearances in 2003-04, 2004-05 and 2005-06.
Last season was the first time they had failed to successfully negotiate the last 16 knockout stage.

Manchester United have won three European trophies - the 1967-68 Champions Cup, 1990-91 Cup Winners' Cup and 1998-99 Champions League.



Current European form


Olympique Lyon are unbeaten in four Champions League matches.

Manchester United have not lost in six Champions League matches.
They are one of three unbeaten teams in this season's Champions League.
Chelsea and FC Barcelona are the others.



Player and disciplinary info


Anthony Reveillere, Juninho Pernambucano and Sidney Govou (all Lyon) will be suspended for the second leg if they receive a yellow card.

Sebastien Squillaci and Remy Vercoutre have played every minute of Lyon's CL campaign this season.
Juninho Pernambucano, Hatem Ben Arfa, Sidney Govou, Kim Kallstrom and Reveillere have also played in all six of Lyon's CL matches this season.

If selected, Ryan Giggs will play his 100th Champions League match and will become the eighth person to reach the century.
He made his CL debut in United's 4-2 win against IFK Gothenburg on 14 September 1994.

Manchester United's Cristiano Ronaldo is joint top scorer in this season's competition.
He has five goals, the same as Inter Milan's Zlatan Ibrahimovic.

Nani is the only Manchester United player to have appeared in all six of his clubs CL matches this season.




Other miscellaneous facts


Manchester United are currently second in the Premier League, trailing leaders Arsenal by five points.
They knocked the Gunners out of the FA Cup in convincing fashion

(4-0) in the fifth round tie at Old Trafford on Saturday.

Olympique Lyon were defeated 1-0 by Le Mans in their Saturday encounter in the French league.
They lead the Ligue 1 Orange from Girondins Bordeaux, whom they saw close in to one point.



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• For the French champions this is the opportunity to make up for last year's disappointment when they bowed out of the competition at this stage,
drawing 0-0 away to AS Roma then failing to build on that achievement at home as they foundered 2-0.
The aggregate defeat bucked a trend: in the previous three seasons Lyon, winning the first match every time,
had always managed to get through this round before meeting defeat at the quarter-final stage.


• Alain Perrin's team began this season's competition by losing both their first two fixtures by 3-0 scorelines.
The home defeat by Rangers FC on Matchday 2 put their qualifying hopes in grave danger but they proceeded to dig themselves out of a hole,
winning their next home game against VfB Stuttgart 4-2 and drawing the other, 2-2 with FC Barcelona.
With victories in both their last two away fixtures they took second place in Group E with ten points, four behind the Catalan club.


• It was Lyon's fifth tie in UEFA club competition against English opponents, but only their second in the UEFA Champions League
having faced Arsenal FC in 2000/01 at the second group stage.
Arsenal left Lyon with a 1-0 victory thanks to their French international striker Thierry Henry, while at Highbury eight days later,
the teams shared two goals with Dennis Bergkamp's 33rd-minute strike cancelled out by Edmílson's last-gasp equaliser.


• Overall, Lyon have won one home game against English opposition, 1-0 against Tottenham Hotspur FC in the 1967/68 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup second round.
Apart from the Arsenal defeat they have drawn the other three fixtures, 0-0 with Nottingham Forest FC in the 1995/96 UEFA Cup third round,
2-2 versus Blackburn Rovers FC in the same competition three years later, and the United fixture.
On an aggregate basis they have won two of the five contests.


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• The Old Trafford club have been frequent travellers across the English Channel in Europe's premier club competition since the 1997/98 season.
They were ousted in the quarter-finals that year after drawing 0-0 away to AS Monaco FC and 1-1 at home.
In both 1999/00 and again two years later, they faced French teams in the first and second group stages.
First it was Olympique de Marseille and FC Girondins de Bordeaux in 1999 while in 2001 they recorded matching 1-1 draws away to Lille and FC Nantes Atlantique.


• Overall, in ten visits to France, United have lost just twice with three wins and five draws.
Twelve months ago Ryan Giggs got the winner away to Lille – making up for a 1-0 defeat against the same team in the 2005/06 group stage
with Henrik Larsson ensuring another 1-0 scoreline in the return.
Before that setback at the hands of Lille, United's only defeat had come as defending UEFA Champions League winners in 1999/00 when a William Gallas
goal provided Marseille with a 1-0 victory in the first group stage.


• United had a five-point advantage over Roma at the end of Group F, dropping just two points in a near-flawless campaign.
It began with an

1-0 win at Sporting Clube de Portugal
and they also posted a

4-2 away win against FC Dynamo Kyiv.

They qualified with two games to spare and completed the programme with a much-changed team and a

1-1 draw against Roma in Italy


• English teams have won their last four UEFA Champions League games in France including qualifiers.
Out of a total of 20 European Champion Clubs' Cup road games played by English clubs against French sides,
there have been eight away wins, seven home victories and five draws.


• Lyon and United last met in the group stage of the 2004/05 UEFA Champions League when the English team had the better of things,
drawing 2-2 at the Stade de Gerland before edging the home game 2-1.
In the starting lineups for the game in France were Grégory Coupet, Cris, Juninho Pernambucano, Anthony Réveillère and Sidney Govou for Lyon
and Wes Brown, Cristiano Ronaldo, Ryan Giggs, Paul Scholes, John O'Shea and Mikaël Silvestre for United.



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Officials

Assistant referee
Victoriano Giraldez Carrasco (ESP)
Victoriano Diaz Casado (ESP)

Fourth official
Cesar Muniz Fernandez (ESP)

UEFA Delegate
Jan Damgaard (DEN)

UEFA Referee observer
Markus Nobs (SUI)
Fernand Meese (BEL)