Manchester United vs Lyon

Edinburgh’s Murrayfield Stadium is the venue as Manchester United and Olympique Lyonnais lock horns in a tasty-looking exhibition match.

Manchester United needed 67 minutes to break down Leeds United’s defense in an eventually comfortable 2-0 win to start their pre-season tour with a bang. Erik ten Hag’s lads sealed a top-four finish in the Premier League last season, signing off in style with four wins in a row. However, a 2-1 heartache in an all-Manchester FA Cup final against cross-town rivals Manchester City clipped United’s wings, highlighting the significance of the upcoming warm-up matches. It’s been 15 years since the ‘Red Devils’ last tackled Lyon, claiming a 1-0 win in the return leg of their 2007/08 Champions League last-16 tie. That result kept their unbeaten H2H record intact (W2, D2) and marked only their first clean sheet in four meetings with Lyon.

In the meantime, Lyon missed out on European qualification for a third season on the trot, finishing five points adrift of fifth-placed Lille in another underwhelming Ligue 1 campaign. Laurent Blanc’s side bounced back from an embarrassing 3-1 defeat at Nice in their final game of the season with a come-from-behind 2-1 victory over lower-league Dutch side De Treffers in their opening summer friendly. That triumph has maintained Lyon’s propensity for high-scoring duels, with their last ten outings in all competitions featuring over 3+ total goals. Since two of their four all-time encounters against Man Utd have also seen over 2.5 goals and both teams on the scoresheet, another action-packed contest could be on the cards.