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Join us as we preview El Gran Derbi and discuss some of the biggest player transfer stories breaking ahead of the Summer transfer window...
George Hudson
April 16, 2025 ā¢ Estimated Reading Time: 13 minutes
Big European Nights
Arsenal did something unbelievable last week in North London. Beating the current holders and odds-on favourites to win the Champions League once again this season is impressive, but beating Real Madrid 3-nil is stupendous! Two incredible free-kicks from Declan Rice and a great finish from Mikel Merino has put Arsenal in a commanding position. Will Arsenal hold on against a wounded Real Madrid?
Meanwhile in the Europa League, the first leg of the quarter-final between Lyon and Manchester United had a little bit of everything: Goals, controversy, and a last-minute equaliser thanks to a goalkeeping error. After Lyon took an early lead through Thiago Almada, Manchester United fought back and looked to have won the game in the 88th-minute when Joshua Zirkzee scored. But in the 95th minute, a costly spill from Andre Onana allowed Rayan Cherki to snatch an equaliser.
Weāre at that stage of the season where thereās big European games on every other week and here at GR, we-bloody-luv-it!
Weāve also got the latest news on transfers around the world of football; a selection of other big matches that youāll want to keep an eye on; and a Ronny-rocket-volley from Saudi!
Today's game plan:
Manchester United vs Lyon | Thursday | 20:00 BST
Somehow, Man United have got themselves into the situation where theyāre banking on winning the damn Europa League to salvage their 2024/25 season. Man United fans have been here before in recent seasons but they definitely werenāt in the bottom half of the table back then. With all of the negativity swirling around Ruben Amorimās team, Lyon will be quietly confident they can get a result at Old Trafford.
Form & Team News
United's recent performances have been inconsistent, which reflects what has been a challenging season for everyone linked to the club. Although United remain unbeaten in the Europa League this season with six wins and five draws, their domestic form has been shocking. Manchester United are 14th in the Premier League with 38 points from 32 games āthatās half the tally of the league leaders Liverpool who have amassed 76 points.
The most recent game was the heavy 4-1 away defeat to Newcastle United, coincidentally the 14th loss of Unitedās 2024/25 league campaign. This poor run has already confirmed Unitedās lowest points total in the Premier League era, and there is a realistic chance of United finishing as low as 17th! With United out of the FA Cup, winning the Europa League is the only route to securing Champions League football next season.
The positive news for fans is that United have won all of their home games in this seasonās Europa League under Ruben Amorim. However, thereās plenty of negative news.
Injuries are piling up and the latest is Joshua Zirkzee who wne toff in the Newcastle game with a hamstring issue. Other absentees include Matthijs de Ligt, Lisandro Martinez, Toby Collyer, Ayden Heaven, and Amad Diallo.
Following Altay Bayindir's blunderous performance against Newcastle, Ruben Amorim may well turn back to Andre Onana in goal.
GR Manchester United predicted lineup | Onana; Dorgu, Mazraoui, Maguire, Yoro, Dalot, Mainoo, Ugarte, Fernandes, Garnacho, HĆøjlund
Despite a turbulent season that included a managerial change and financial challenges, Paulo Fonsecaās Lyon team will go into this quarter-final 2nd leg with plenty of confidence.
Over the weekend, they secured a 3-1 away victory over Auxerre, which moved them up to 4th in Ligue 1, just one point behind third-placed Marseille. We already mentioned Unitedās strong Europa League form, but Lyon are also unbeaten in their last 12 Europa League away games, with nine wins and three draws since December 2017.
Plus, the win over Auxere in the league was their 7th win in their last 9 matches in all competitions āa run in which Lyon have scored 24 goals. The thing is, over the last five games against Manchester United, Lyon have never got a win.
On the injuroes front, Fonseca is in a better position than Amorim. Lyon will be without key winger Ernest Nuamah but Malick Fofana returned to training in the week and is likely to feature in the matchday squad. The main threat for Lyon is Rayan Cherki, the attacking midfielder is in excellent form and his creativity will be at the heart of Lyonās attacking play.
GR Lyon predicted lineup | Perri, Maitland-Niles, Mata, NiakhatƩ, Tagliafico, Veretout, Tolisso, Akouokou, Cherki, Mikautadze, Almada
This Weekās Shockerā¦
thereās been a lot of talk about Man Unitedās first-choice goalkeeper Andre Onana this season, and the grumblings intensified over the last week. Onana had a shocker against Lyon in the Europa League, and was subsequently dropped for Man Unitedās trip to Newcastle over the weekend.
This was the perfect chance for Altay Bayinder to stake a claim for the no. 1 jersey. He absolutely fluffed his chance by conceding 4 goals, the fourth of Newcastleās goals came from a shocker of a pass from the Turkish goalie.
The problems at United run deep. Not only is the squad short of confidenceā¦seems a lot of these players are short of quality too.
Around the worldā¦
McTominay is one of several British players playing their football in Italy this season, but he has definitely been the pick of the bunch. Over the weekend, the ex-Manchester United midfielder scored a double in Napoliās 3-nil win over Empoli. In doing so, he surpassed a record held by one of the best British footballers to ever play in Serie A.
Paul Gascoigne scored six Serie A goals for Lazio and McTominay has now surpassed that record by scoring his eighth goal of the season.
š“ó §ó ¢ó „ó ®ó §ó æ Wayne Rooney to return to management
Talk of a return to management for Wayne Rooney are getting louder, just four months after he was sacked by Plymouth Argyle. Championship side, Blackburn Rovers are interested in bringing Rooney as a replacement for current head coach Valerien Ismael.
Barcelona womenās defender Mapi Leon has received a 2-game suspension for inappropriate touching during a game against city rivals Espanyol. Whilst preparing to defend a corner, Leon was caught on camera touching Daniela Caracasās genitals and asking ādo you have a d**k?ā.
Leon is one of a number of female Spanish players who have been outspoken about the sexism suffered by women in Spanish football.
Both Manchester clubs, Arsenal, Liverpool, Barcelona, and Real Madrid are monitoring Atalantaās Brazilian midfielder Ederson. The 25-year-old defensive midfielder is valued at ā¬60 million by Atalanta and itās expected that the Italia club will cash in during the summer transfer window.
In an interview with the Uruguayan paper El PaĆs, Luis SuĆ”rez revealed that Lionel Messi has the "desire to play in the 2026 World Cup". The Argentina captain hasn't officially confirmed his participation in the 2026 tournament but considering Argentinaās recent success, it makes sense that Messi wants to continue his captaincy of the national team into the next tournament.
Games to keep an eye onā¦
Real Madrid vs Arsenal | Wednesday | 20:00 BST
Can Arsenal go to the Bernabeu and hold onā¦or will Madrid score early and turn the screw? Arsenal, particularly Declan Rice, put in a superb performance in the first leg in North London but Real Madrid can really turn it on at home.
Inter vs Bayern Munich | Wednesday | 20:00 BST
Inter did a job on Bayern away in Munich in the first leg and Inzaghiās team take a 2-1 advantage into the second leg at the San Siro on Wednesday night. The bad news for Bayern is that Inter are unbeaten in 12 matches in all competitions. If Inter do get through against Bayern, they will play in their 2nd Champions League semi-final in the last 3 seasons.
Aston Villa vs Newcastle | Saturday | 17:30 BST
Aston Villa welcome Newcastle to Villa Park, with a chance to leapfrog the Magpies in the Premier League table. Villa currently sit in 7th on 54 points whilst Newcastle are in 4th on 56 points. Villa can take a lot of heart from their performance in the second leg of their Champions League quarter-final match against PSG in which they won 3-2 on the night, but ultimately lost 5-4 on aggregate.
Leicester vs Liverpool | Sunday | 16:30 BST
Liverpool are gradually edging closer to making it mathematically impossible for Arsenal to catch them in the Premier League. With 6 games to play, Liverpool are 13 points clear of Arsenal. If Liverpool win and Arsenal lose to Ipswich on Sunday, Liverpool will be the 2024/25 champions with 5 games to spare.
Real Madrid vs Athletic Bilbao | Sunday | 20:00 BST
As the race for La Liga swings back in Barcelonaās favour, Real Madrid have a tough game against Athletic Bilbao. Madrid are currently 4 points behind Barca with 7 games left to play. What makes this more interesting is that Madrid play this match after their 2nd leg against Arsenal and they will be without Kylian Mbappe who was shown a red card in Madridās win over Alavesā¦there could be some depressed Madrid fans in the Bernabeu on Sunday night.
GOAT Triviaā¦
Say congrats toā¦
Rafael Benitez [@rafabenitezrb], the expert tactician and fat Spanish waiter is best known as the manager of the Liverpool team who pulled-off one of the best the Champions League final comebacks ever in Istanbul in 2005.
On this day in footballā¦
Back in 2004, a magnificent Arsenal team put 5 past Leeds United in the Premier League. Robert Pires got the first and then Henry banged in the next 4. Sensational forward play by one of the best strikers to ever play the game.
Goal of the weekā¦
There were some decent goals over the weekend including Tonaliās vs Man United, Sanchoās vs Ipswich; but our goal of the week had to be this Ronaldo volley.
Ronaldo has now netted 933 career goals!
