Europa League

Paul Scholes: 'Lyon are Manchester United's biggest Europa League threat'

By Matt Law, Football Editor | 29 March 2017

Lyon are Manchester United's biggest challengers for the Europa League crown this season, according to former Red Devils midfielder Paul Scholes.

Former Manchester United midfielder Paul Scholes has claimed that French outfit Lyon are the only team capable of preventing Jose Mourinho's side from winning the Europa League this season.

Man United have overcome Saint-Etienne and Rostov to reach the quarter-finals of the European competition, where they will take on Belgian outfit Anderlecht over two legs next month.

Scholes says that his former side have "a great chance" of winning the Europa League this season, although the Englishman is slightly wary of the threat posed by Ligue 1 outfit Lyon.

"It is a great chance for them," Scholes told Omnisport. "They are obviously the biggest club left in the competition. They are favourites and rightly so.

"If they perform anything like [they can] they have got a great chance of winning. I think Lyon are maybe the obvious contenders to United. But, apart from that, I don't see too many problems for them in that competition."

Europa League success brings an automatic spot in the group stages of the Champions League next season.