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Ruben Amorim has confirmed Andre Onana will return to the Manchester United starting XI for their Europa League quarter-final crunch match against Lyon.
The Cameroon international was left out of the squad that was thrashed by Newcastle on the weekend, taking him out of the spotlight after his erroneous performance in the first leg against the French side.
Goalkeeper understudy Altay Bayindir failed make a positive impression in his long-awaited Premier League debut at St. James’s Park, leading Amorim to recall Onana for the crucial home leg despite being low on confidence.
"Onana, he will play tomorrow,” Amorim confirmed in his pre-match press conference.
“As a coach and former player first of all I try to do things that can help a player in this situation.
"We speak about managing players physically but we also have to manage them also mentally.
"We had one weekend where I felt it was better for Andre Onana not to play and a good thing for Altay [Bayindir] to play."
Onana failed to cover himself in glory at the Groupama Stadium as United were held to a 2-2 draw in their Europa League first leg last week, initially allowing Thiago Almada’s free-kick to skip past him in the first half to put the Red Devils on the back foot.
Ruben Amorim’s side managed to flip the game on its head through goals from Leny Yoro and Joshua Zirkzee, before another mistake from Onana saw him parry Corentin Tolisso’s shot right back into the danger area, where Cherki pounced to rescue a late draw for the French giants.
Onana was at the centre of pre-match build-up after he claimed that Man United were on paper a far stronger team than Lyon, which led to former United midfielder and current Lyon star Nemanja Matic to describe the Cameroonian as one of the worst goalkeepers in the club’s history.
And after spending a weekend out of the squad, Onana will be back in the firing line to face Lyon in a make-or-break clash for United’s season, with the club’s faint hopes of success this term resting on the Europa League.
One player who won’t be in the line-up will be first-leg scorer Zirkzee, though, with Amorim confirming that the Dutchman is out for the season after picking up a hamstring injury against Newcastle.
"Joshua [Zirkzee] is out for the season,” Amorim confirmed. “He will not play more this season, let's prepare him for the next one.
“It is tough for him especially in this moment. He is improving in all aspects and it is hard for any player to stop."
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