Marc Skinner took quite a risk with his team selection, making some eyebrow-raising calls to leave all of Jess Park, Ella Toone, Dominique Janssen and Julia Zigiotti Olme on the bench. Citing the desire to add physicality to the midfield as the reason for his choices, it certainly didn't work in the first half, with United unable to get anywhere near the visitors for the most part.
The Red Devils had just one touch in Lyon's box before the break, when Melvine Malard headed well over, with the French side running the show. That said, OL didn't create too many clear cut opportunities, bar a header for Ada Hegerberg, with some last-ditch defending from Jayde Riviere in particular able to thwart them on a couple of occasions.
It was no surprise when Skinner made changes at the break then, and the introductions of Park, Toone and Zigiotti helped them get into the game. However, the Red Devils still weren't doing anything to hurt Lyon in anyway, with some nice passing sequences occurring to get them into the final third, but there no end product to cap it all off.
Instead, it was Lyon who became more ruthless and clinical as the game progressed, to put it to bed for good. It was Dumornay, the star of the show, who made it 2-0 with a superb strike from the edge of the box, before a powerful finish from closer range really put the gloss on things late on.
Ahead of next week's final league phase fixtures, United are not out of the race for an automatic qualification spot to the next round of the Champions League, with a play-off berth already secure. But it's out of their hands now, and with them sat in an unfavourable position when it comes to seeding for those play-offs.
GOAL rates United's players from Leigh Sports Village...
