Football Bet of the Day: Back goals at the Groupama

• Lyon scoring freely under Fonseca

• UCL qualification massive for both clubs 

• Over 2.5 Goals a good price at 1.981/1

Lyon v Manchester United
Thursday 10 April, 20:00
Live on Discovery+

A tough one to take last night, as PSG put three goals past Aston Villa, but none of them were from the in-form Ousmane Dembele. We move on.

We'll go elsewhere in France, because Lyon are up against Manchester United in the Europa League quarter-finals, and I fancy goals in this first leg.

Lyon are in a curious situation at present, which is often the case with maverick owner John Textor at the helm. They have been provisionally relegated to Ligue 2 because of their mounting debts, although they have been working to slash the wage budget, and qualification for next season's Champions League would be a huge boost. That UCL place could come through the league (they are currently fifth in Ligue 1, a point off the top four) or by winning the Europa League.

The other curious thing about Lyon at present is that coach Paulo Fonseca is banned from the touchline in France after leaning his head into the head of a referee, but that ban doesn't extend to European competition. The Portuguese coach started the campaign at Milan, but was jettisoned after a poor start to the season.

Fonseca has helped Lyon produce a run of eight wins in ten, and they have scored at least twice in all of those matches, although OL have suffered some big injury setbacks recently, Exciting young wingers Ernest Nuamah and Malick Fofana are both currently sidelined.

This UEL run is the only way Manchester United can save the current season, and manager Ruben Amorim is trying to prepare his team for next term already. Real Sociedad were swept aside in the previous round (United won 5-2 on aggregate), but this promises to be a tougher test.

Although goals have been hard to come by in the Premier League, United have been scoring them in the UEL, netting at least twice in six of their last seven matches in the competition.

Fonseca's sides don't really play in a cagey way, and teams tend to go for it a bit more in first legs these days, with the cost of conceding an away goal no longer as punitive as it was when the away goals rule was in operation. All four of the Champions League games this week featured three goals or more, and that's an outcome I'm happy to back here at 1.981/1.

Lyon have lots of firepower, with the maverick Rayan Cherki, the ever-improving Georgian Georges Mikautadze and the outstanding Argentinean midfielder Thiago Almada all likely to start. Over 2.5 Goals seems an attractive option here.

Now read our other Bet of the Day here!