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Champions League draw: United face Bayern

Manchester United have learned the identity of their forthcoming opponents in the 2023-24 edition of the UEFA Champions League. Drawn into a tough looking Group A, United will be travelling to Germany, Denmark and Turkey to face Bayern Munich, FC Copenhagen and Galatasaray respectively.

They begin with the toughest assignment of all, the trip to Bavaria to face Harry Kane’s new employers at the Allianz Arena, followed by a couple of home ties against Galatasaray and FC Copenhagen in which they will hope to pick up maximum points.

The return tie in Copenhagen is followed by the tricky trip to Istanbul before Bayern visit Old Trafford. United will be hoping that they aren’t relying on getting a result from that final fixture in order to qualify for the knockout stages.

The full fixture details are as follows:

Wed 20/09/2023 20:00 A Bayern Munich
Tue 03/102023 20:00 H Galatasaray
Tue 24/102023 20:00 H FC Copenhagen
Wed 08/112023 20:00 A FC Copenhagen
Wed 29/11/2023 17:45 A Galatasaray
Tue 12/12/2023 20:00 H Bayern Munich

Bayern look to be the strongest team in the group and will be expected to take top spot. FC Copenhagen are likely to be the weakest, but are more than capable of springing a surprise result. Galatasaray have invested heavily over the summer and now boast a strong roster of forwards including United old-boy Wilfred Zaha, Mauro Icardi and Hakim Ziyech, as well as former Lyon trio Leo Dubois, Tete and Tanguy Ndombele. They will mount a strong challenge for second place in the group.

Arsenal 3-1 Manchester United

Manchester United’s second away fixture of the 2023-24 Premier League season was another trip to North London and it had many parallels with the first, ending, as it did, in a defeat in which United had enough good chances to have won the game despite not playing particularly well.

New signings Altay Bayindir, Sergio Reguilón and Danish striker Rasmus Højlund were all on the bench for the first time, with Anthony Martial fit enough to start up front. Once again there was no recognised left-back in the team due to injuries to Luke Shaw and Malacia, so Diogo Dalot was required to deputise in an unfamiliar role.

It was a cautious start from both teams and the game didn’t roar into life until the 27th minute when Christian Eriksen fed Marcus Rashford on the counter-attack. The England forward supplied a fine finish to score a marvellous breakaway goal and give United the lead.

However, that lead was only to last for one minute as Martin Ødegaard struck back for the Gunners almost immediately to level the scores and it stayed that way until the interval.

Unfortunately for United, Argentinian centre-back Lisandro Martinez was forced off with an injury mid-way through the second half, to be replaced by Harry Maguire, but €75 million striker Højlund, who is the great white hope for this season, entered the fray at the same time to give them a lift.

It looked like United had snatched the three points late on when another substitute, Garnacho, had the ball in the net, but it was disallowed for offside by the tiniest of margins after a VAR review. Then, in stoppage time, Arsenal struck twice, firstly with a wickedly deflected shot from new signing Declan Rice following a corner, and finally through substitute Gabriel Jesus.

Two home wins coupled with two away defeats from their opening fixtures leaves United in eleventh place in the Premier League.

Johann Lepenant – Player Profile

Johann Lepenant is a diminutive, right-footed, defensive midfielder, who was signed by Olympique Lyonnais from Stade Malherbe Caen for €4.25 million in July 2022, aged just nineteen.

Born in in the coastal town of Granville, Normandy, Lepenant began his journey in the youth ranks of local club US Granville, where his father was one of the coaches. He stood out from a young age and was soon on the radar of local big boys Caen, to whom he moved in 2017.

Having been part of the France national team set-up in age-group squads for several years, and having played in the Under-17 European Championships and World Cup in 2019, Lepenant made his first team debut for Caen in September 2020 as a late substitute in a Ligue 2 match away at Rodez, just over a month shy of his eighteenth birthday.

However, it wasn’t until the following January that Lepenant was handed his first start for the club, but when it came he grabbed the opportunity with both hands and was a regular in the line-up for the remainder of the season as the club narrowly avoided relegation from Ligue 2.

Season 2021-22 was a happier affair for Caen, as they bounced back to finish seventh, with Lepenant a fixture in the heart of their midfield. His assuredness in possession, neat and tidy passing and tactical discipline earned him many plaudits along the way and ultimately the big move to Lyon in Ligue 1.

That first season with Lyon began well for Lepenant. He was a regular starter under coach Peter Bosz and looked comfortable playing at the higher level, turning in some solid, if unspectacular performances. However, it finished on something of a personal low when his individual mistakes cost Lyon a couple of goals in the home game against Montpellier in May. He was substituted just before the hour mark with the team trailing 4-1 and had to watch from the sidelines as his team mates completed their stirring come-back to win 5-4.

That performance seemed to dent his confidence somewhat and he was left out of the starting line-up for the remaining four games of the season by manager Laurent Blanc.

The 2023-24 campaign represents a chance for a fresh start for Lepenant and he needs to prove that he has what it takes to hold down a spot in the midfield of a team that aspires to finish in the upper echelons of Ligue 1. Blanc gave him a vote of confidence by handing him starts in the opening two games of the campaign, but a pair of defeats saw him again relegated to the bench and he may now have fallen down the pecking order.

He seems to be a fairly one-dimensional player, who is perfectly adequate at breaking up opposition attacks and relaying possession to a team mate, but he offers next to no goal threat himself and doesn’t weigh in with enough assists either. His lack of physical stature and pace is perhaps a disadvantage in such a pivotal role in the centre of the park.

With a physique and playing style not dissimilar to that of France legend Didier Deschamps, the hope must be that Lepenant can maximise his virtues in a similar way to the now France manger and forge a career as a ‘water-carrier’ de luxe. Still only nineteen years old, there’s plenty of time for him to develop and improve, although my suspicion is that his talent set is too limited to make him much more than a squad player in the long term at Lyon. Let’s hope he proves me wrong.

Ernest Nuamah – Player Profile

Teen prodigy Ernest Nuamah is a graduate of the Right To Dream academy in his native Ghana, which is part of an ownership group that includes Danish Superliga club FC Nordsjælland, and his potential was such that he was fast-tracked into their squad aged just eighteen in early 2022.

A fast, tricky and lively forward, who can play on either flank or through the middle, Nuamah was born in Kumasi, Ghana’s second largest city, in November 2003 and looks set to be the latest top attacking talent to emerge from the country, following in the footsteps of such luminaries as Abedi Pele, Anthony Yeboah and Asamoah Gyan.

Nuamah made a sensational start to his career in Denmark when he came off the bench to score on his debut for FC Nordsjælland, giving them the lead in what turned out to be a 2-2 draw against Aarhus GF in the Relegation Round of the Danish Superliga. He was used as an impact substitute in every remaining game as FC Nordsjælland went unbeaten for the rest of the campaign.

The 2022-23 season began with Nuamah already an undisputed first choice starter in the FC Nordsjælland line-up and he scored eight goals in twenty-one starts as ‘The Tigers’ finished top of the regular season table. He plundered another four in nine games in the Championship Round as FC Nordsjælland narrowly missed out on the title to FC Copenhagen. A host of individual awards followed including both the Danish Superliga Player of the Year and Young Player of the Year titles.

His stock had now risen so high that he was attracting the attention of scouts from around Europe and when he opened the 2023-34 season with a hat-trick against Viborg FF, Lyon knew that they would have to move quickly to secure his signature.

However, the French club had to contend with budget restrictions imposed by the football licensing authorities during the summer transfer window of 2023 and were unable to raise the funds to sign him outright. Therefore, he was purchased by Lyon’s Belgian partner club, RWD Molenbeek for a fee reportedly in the region of €25 million and then immediately loaned to Lyon with an option to make the move permanent at a later date.

Nuamah’s Lyon debut came in tough circumstances – a confrontation with Qatari-owned super-club Paris-Saint Germain – which was ultimately lost 4-1, and he was thrown in at the deep end with a starting position on the right side of the front line. However, he looked sharp and created a few decent chances for his new team before being replaced by Jeffinho with a quarter of an hour remaining.

His performance was one of the few bright spots in the Lyon side that night and we saw enough to give hope that he will provide the spark to turn Lyon’s disappointing start to the season around.

Ainsley Maitland-Niles – Player Profile

Versatile midfielder-cum-right-back Ainsley Maitland-Niles joined Lyon in the summer of 2023 on a free transfer following the expiration of his contract at Arsenal. The Londoner had been with the Gunners for the best part of two decades since joining them as a schoolboy, but had never really established himself as a first team regular.

Finally, just shy of his twenty-sixth birthday, and following several loan moves, he has broken his ties with his childhood club and made a permanent switch in search of regular football.

Maitland-Niles came through the youth ranks at Arsenal and made his debut in a Champions League tie against Galatasaray in 2014, aged just seventeen. However, it wasn’t until the following season, on loan at Ipswich Town, that he really made his breakthrough, making 30 appearances in the Championship.

Another year on the fringes at Arsenal was to follow in 2016-17 but the season ended on a high when he was part of the England squad that won the 2017 FIFA U-20 World Cup in Korea. He was a late substitute in the 1-0 win over Venezuela in the final in Suwon.

Following on from that success, 2017-18 saw him fully integrated into the Arsenal first team squad in what was manager Arsene Wenger’s final season in charge of the club. He made 28 appearances across all competitions and backed that up under Unai Emery, featuring thirty or more times in each of the following two campaigns. Those three seasons represent the high water mark of his time in north London and culminated with him playing the full ninety minutes in the 2020 FA Cup final as Arsenal beat Chelsea 2-1 at Wembley.

By the start of the 2020-21 season, just as Maitland-Niles found himself beginning to fall out of favour under new manager Mikel Arteta, he earned a call-up to the full England national team and was awarded all five of his international caps during that Autumn.

Despite this recognition from national team boss Gareth Southgate, Maitland-Niles was was loaned out to fellow Premier League club West Bromwich Albion in February 2021. He made twelve appearances for the Baggies, but was unable to help keep them in the top division, as they finished nineteenth.

Another half season on the fringes at Arsenal followed, during which he made what were to be his final appearances for the club, before a loan move to AS Roma in Italy’s Serie A, where he was again used sparingly by manager José Mourinho and was an unused substitute as Roma won the UEFA Europa Conference League final 1-0 against Feyenoord.

2022-23 was the final year of Maitland-Niles’ contract at Arsenal and he spent the entirety of it on loan at Southampton, finishing up with a second relegation on his CV as the Saints finished bottom of the Premier League. It was apparent that he was no longer part of Arteta’s future plans at Arsenal and he wasn’t offered a new contract at the end of the season.

Having been shunted around many different positions during his career to date, Maitland-Niles arrived at Lyon with a view to holding down a place in defensive midfield. He has plenty of experience in that role, but is also at home as a right-back or even as a wing-back on either flank. Hopefully he’ll prove to be a useful asset to Lyon over the next few years.

Corentin Tolisso

Corentin Tolisso is a dynamic and versatile midfielder who is best known for winning the FIFA World Cup with France in 2018, and for his club career with Bayern Munich and Olympique Lyonnais.

Tolisso, son of a Togolese immigrant, hails from the small town of Tarare in the Rhône department, some twenty-eight miles outside Lyon, and began playing junior football with local youth teams such as Stade Amplepuisien and FC Pays de l’Arbresle.

His exceptional abilities on the field quickly caught the attention of scouts, and he soon found himself in the youth academy of Olympique Lyonnais, one of France’s most renowned football clubs. Tolisso’s development within the Lyon academy was marked by his strong work ethic, technical prowess, and tactical understanding of the game.

In 2013, a week after his nineteenth birthday, Corentin Tolisso made his first-team debut for Lyon as a late substitute in a Ligue 1 match against Nice at the Stade de Gerland. It would be a few months until he earned his first start for the club, but his composed playing style, excellent passing range, and ability to contribute defensively soon earned him a regular spot in the first eleven.

Over the next three seasons, Tolisso became a key member of the Lyon midfield as the club twice finished as runners-up in Ligue 1 behind Paris Saint-Germain and reached the semi-finals of the Europa League in 2017. Having been involved with the national team at various youth levels, he received his first call-up for the full France squad in March 2017 and made his debut in a friendly against Spain.

Tolisso’s standout performances at Lyon had drawn the attention of European football powerhouses, and in the summer of 2017, he secured a high-profile transfer to Bayern Munich, one of the most successful clubs in the world. The fee of €41.5 million was a record for both clubs involved. Whilst at Lyon, Tolisso had amassed 160 appearances, scoring 29 goals.

During his time at Bayern Munich, Tolisso was part of numerous domestic and international triumphs. He played a crucial role in Bayern’s dominance of the Bundesliga, contributing with goals, assists, and an all-around midfield presence. His ability to score from distance and his knack for arriving in the box at the right time earned him a reputation as a goal-scoring midfielder.

His first season in Bavaria got off to a flying start as he made his club debut in the 2017 DFL-Supercup win against Borussia Dortmund and then scored on his Bundesliga debut. He nailed down a place at the heart of the Bayern Munich midfield as they won the league by twenty-one points and the campaign culminated with his inclusion in Didier Deschamps’ France squad for the 2018 FIFA World Cup held in Russia.

Aged 23, Tolisso was approaching the heigh of his powers as the tournament began and he was in the starting line-up for France’s opening match, a 2-1 win against Australian in Kazan. He sat out the subsequent two group games but was involved again in the classic 4-3 victory against Agrentina in the last sixteen, when he came off the bench to replace Blaise Matuidi in the 75th minute.

Back in the starting line-up for the quarter-finals, he played an important role in France’s 2-0 win against Uruguay, and then came off the bench late on in the 1-0 semi-final win over Belgium. He was a substitute once again for the final and was introduced in the 73rd minute in place of Matuidi as France looked to protect their 4-2 lead. Thus he was on the pitch at the final whistle when France secured their second world title and what will remain the crowning glory of his career.

At the end of the year, along with the rest of the French World Cup winning squad, Tolisso was made a Chevalier de la Légion d’honneur, France’s highest order of merit. However, by then his fortunes had taken a turn for the worse. In his first start for Bayern since the World Cup, he had ruptured a cruciate ligament in his right knee, having earlier scored the equaliser in a 3-1 home win against Bayer Leverkusen.

That injury, on matchday three of the season, ruled him out of the remainder of the Bundesliga campaign and he had to look on from the side-lines as Bayern retained their title. His comeback match was actually in the German Cup Final at the Olympiastadion in Berlin, where he replaced Javi Martínez in the 65th minute of a 3-0 win against RB Leipzig to help Bayern secure a league and cup double.

The following season, 2019-20, was his most successful at Bayern in terms of trophies, as they won a historic treble of league, cup and UEFA Champions League. However, on a personal level, Tolisso again struggled with injuries and needed ankle surgery in April whilst the season was suspended due to Covid. He recovered from that in time to play a role in the delayed final stages of the Champions League and featured as a late substitute against Lyon in the semi-final and against PSG in the final.

His last two seasons at Bayern brought two more league titles, but were blighted by ever more frequent injuries, which restricted his playing time. Bayern decided not to renew his contract and he was allowed to return to Lyon, signing a five year contract with his boyhood club. In total he had played 145 times for Bayern, scoring twenty-three goals.

Tolisso’s first season back in Ligue 1 was a lot more consistent, and mercifully free of any serious injuries. He grew in influence on the pitch towards the latter end of the campaign and was beginning to approach some of his old heights. At 29, he still has a lot to offer if he can maintain his fitness, and he could be a pillar of the Lyon team for several years to come, perhaps by slowly adapting his style of play to mitigate his advancing years.

Even as Corentin Tolisso continues to evolve as a footballer, his legacy within French and international football is already assured. With his unique skill set and unwavering commitment, he stands as an inspiration for aspiring players in the Lyon academy and a symbol of the heights that can be reached through talent and hard work.

Rémy Riou

Rémy Riou joined Lyon in the summer of 2022 on a free transfer from Ligue 2 club Caen, as cover for first choice goalkeeper Anthony Lopes. Riou had been the regular starter in goal for the Normandy based club over the previous three seasons but, approaching his thirty-fifth birthday, he was now prepared to settle for a role on the bench in the top flight of French football.

The move was actually a return to his roots some fifteen years after he had departed his hometown club in search of first team football, for Riou is Lyon born and bred. He was on the club’s books for many years as a junior, and signed his first professional contract with Lyon in January 2005, aged seventeen.

During that period, Riou was a regular member of age-group squads within the French national team setup and in the summer of 2004 he had been the reserve goalkeeper (behind Benoît Costil) as France hosted and won the UEFA European Under-17 Championship.

However, his opportunities at Lyon were limited at the time and he went out on loan to Lorient for the 2006-07 season, where he experienced his first action in Ligue 1. Auxerre were impressed enough by his performances to pay Lyon €800,000 for his services the following summer and he spent four seasons at the Stade de l’Abbé-Deschamps, playing regularly in the first two, but having fallen out of favour thereafter.

A free transfer and a season at Toulouse followed, but Riou again found himself relegated to the bench and made just a single appearance for Les Violets, in the Coupe de la Ligue. Salvation came in the form of another free transfer, this time to Nantes, in Ligue 2. He was installed as first choice goalkeeper for the Canaries and helped them to promotion via a third place finish in his first season there.

Riou enjoyed some of the best years of his career during his five-year stay at Nantes, even becoming club captain as they re-established themselves in the top flight. He went on to make 166 appearances for the club before being sold to Alanyaspor in the Turkish Süper Lig for €1 million in summer 2017.

Playing time was once more at a premium for Riou in Turkey and he only made a handful of appearances for Alanyaspor before another free transfer took him to Charleroi in Belgium the following summer. However, he was yet again used sparingly by his new employers and was on the move for a third time in three years in summer 2019, when he returned to his native France to join Caen and rediscover regular first team football.

And so his career turned a full circle when he re-joined Lyon upon the expiry of his Caen contract. Unexpectedly, some seventeen years after first signing terms with them, Riou finally got the chance to pull on a Lyon goalkeeper’s jersey and make his long-awaited debut for the club in the first game of the 2022-23 season when Lopes was sent off in the 27th minute. He played three more games during Lopes’ suspension, and featured again when Lopes was injured in early 2023.

Appearances are likely to be just as sparse in the future, but for now Riou seems to be happy playing second fiddle to Lopes and acting as a mentor to the club’s youth team goalkeepers. He’s a reliable pair of hands ready and waiting for whenever the club needs to call upon him.

Croatian international Duje Caleta-Car signs for Lyon

Olympique Lyonnais have completed the signing of Croatian international defender Duje Caleta-Car on a season-long loan for a fee of €1.54 million. The centre-back joins from Southampton as they look to reduce their wage bill following their relegation from the English Premier League at the end of last season.

The twenty-six year old links up with his Croatian international teammate Dejan Lovren at Lyon, in what will be a familiar defensive partnership for the duo if they are selected alongside one another. That may well be the case if Lyon’s young centre-back Castello Lukeba ends up leaving during the summer transfer window. He has been the subject of repeated bids from RB Leipzig in Germany.

Caleta-Car brings plenty of experience to Lyon’s back line following spells in Austria and England, as well as his native Croatia, who whom he has earned 23 international caps. Of course, he is best known in France from his four year spell with Lyon’s bitter rivals Marseille between 2018 and 2022. He made over 100 appearances for ‘Les Phocéens’ so he’ll have to start by trying to win over the Lyon faithful, who aren’t predisposed to view former Marseille players with a large amount of affection.

Jeffinho

Jeffinho, or to give him his full name, Jefferson Ruan Pereira dos Santos, arrived at Lyon at the end of the January 2023 transfer window. His move from Botafogo in Brazil’s Série A made him the first player to sign for Lyon from a partner club in new owner John Textor’s portfolio. The first of what Lyon will hope becomes a regular pipeline of young Brazilian talent.

The official transfer fee was €10 million, although the negotiations over the price probably weren’t too heated, seeing as the same person owns both the buying and selling parties. Nevertheless, it feels like a reasonable amount for a promising, yet unproven, forward.

A native of Volta Redonda, in Rio de Janeiro state, Jeffinho spent his formative years training at Pelé Academia before joining local club Resende, who compete in the Campeonato Carioca (Rio State Championship). He made his debut for them, aged twenty, in 2020, and scored five goals in a total of twenty five appearances for the perennial strugglers, either side of a short loan spell at Gama.

In April 2022, Jeffinho got his big break when he was loaned to Botafogo. His performances for them in Série A, predominantly on the left side of attack, swiftly prompted them to make the move permanent for a fee of around €300,000 in August that year. He was a regular starter for the remainder of the season, scoring twice as Botafogo finished in mid-table.

Jeffinho made his final appearance for Botafogo in a 3-0 defeat away at Club Athletico Paranaense on the last day of the 2022 Série A season, before domestic football shut down for the World Cup in mid-November. Among his teammates on the day was former Lyon defender Marçal, who had recently joined Botafogo on a free transfer from Wolverhampton Wanderers.

Perhaps Marçal had been extolling the virtues of a life on the banks of the Rhône, for when the transfer window opened in the new year, negotiations began to move Jeffinho across the Atlantic, the €10 million fee representing a tidy profit for Botafogo on their modest outlay just five months earlier.

It’s not abundantly clear what Jeffinho did to justify such a dramatic inflation of his value in such a short space of time. Two goals in twenty-six league and cup appearances isn’t exactly eye-catching, and his arrival wasn’t particularly transformative for Botafogo’s fortunes on the field – they were 14th when he made his debut and finished 11th.

Nor has he ever attracted the attention of the national team setup, with no appearances to his name in the Brazil youth squads at any age group, so he didn’t arrive in Europe with a massive reputation either at home or abroad. At twenty-three, he should soon be moving into the ‘finished article’ category rather than simply ‘promising prospect’, so he needs to smooth off any rough edges and start repaying his transfer fee sooner rather than later.

Jeffinho made his Lyon debut as a 67th minute substitute for Rayan Cherki in a 3-1 away win over Angers in Ligue 1 and was a starter three days later at the Groupama Stadium in the Coupe de France quarter-finals against Grenoble. He scored the second goal of a 2-1 win in the 38th minute after a pass from Tagliafico, but was substituted for Moussa Dembélé at the interval.

Thereafter, he was largely used as a substitute as Lyon’s challenge for a European spot gradually faltered. He did make the starting line-up for the last three games of the season, and ended on a personal high with the consolation goal (his second for the club) in a 3-1 defeat at Nice on the final day.

The 2023-24 campaign will prove whether or not he has what it takes to hold down a regular place in the starting line-up, where he’ll be vying with Bradley Barcola and Amin Sarr for a place on the left side of Lyon’s front line. He’ll certainly need to improve on his goal return if he’s to become the latest Brazilian recruit to launch a successful European career in Lyon. Otherwise, he could find himself on loan back at Botafogo before too long.

Juninho Pernambucano

Juninho Pernambucano is considered by many to be the greatest Olympique Lyonnais player of all time. It is no coincidence that his spell at the club coincided with their golden period of seven successive league titles, for he was the driving force of that team and his vast repertoire of free-kick and long-range goals will live long in the memory of all who were lucky enough to witness them.


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