Manchester Utd (1) v Lyon (1)THE PRIORITY for Manchester United tonight will be to qualify for the quarter-finals of the Champions League but Alex Ferguson's men will also have an added incentive when Lyon visit Old Trafford.
Only one team, Juventus, has ever won 10 successive Champions League games on their own ground and Ferguson's side will equal that 11-year record if they defeat the French champions inside a stadium that is gradually becoming recognised as the most impregnable fortress in Europe.
Regular patrons of the Bernabeu, San Siro, the Camp Nou and Anfield might be reluctant to accept that, but the weight of evidence is very much in United's favour. The Premier League champions have not lost at home in Europe's premier club competition since Milan beat them 1-0 in February 2005 and have won all nine of their games at Old Trafford since, scoring 27 times compared to only seven against.
Ferguson talked last night about his players "increasing their expectations to do well" when they face European sides on their own pitch whereas, for United's opponents, there seems to be the same fear that once gripped away teams when they passed under the "This is Anfield" sign in the 1970s. La Repubblica described Roma's players "looking like car-sick kids vomiting at the first turn" when they lost 7-1 in last season's quarter-final, and there have even been sightings of opposition players taking pictures of each other on the pitch before some games.
"Teams can be scared when they come to Old Trafford," Patrice Evra, one of the more intelligent and considered members of Ferguson's squad, volunteered yesterday. "We shouldn't underestimate the effect it can have. It's a big stadium, the pitch is wide and we play with pace. Teams don't like that. It can be hard for them to cope. It's the Theatre of Dreams but that's only for United, not for any other team."
United will certainly go into tonight's game confident of progressing after drawing 1-1 in the first leg at Stade Gerland.
"Honestly, when I play at Old Trafford I feel I have more power, more character in my legs, more energy," said Evra. "Playing at this stadium, the atmosphere is not the same as anywhere else on a European night. The fans really lift the team from the first minute to the last."
Ferguson has been critical of the Old Trafford crowd at times - most memorably, describing the atmosphere as like a "funeral" after a Premier League game against Birmingham City in January - but he, too, acknowledged the noise that is generated by United's supporters.
"Our home record has been very good for a long time," said the United manager. "The atmosphere at Old Trafford helps because on these big European nights there is a real stirring among the fans."
Ryan Giggs made his 100th Champions League appearance in the first leg but he is likely to be absent this evening because of the calf injury that kept him out of United's 3-0 defeat of Fulham on Saturday. That apart, however, Ferguson reported a full-strength squad and he will be encouraged by the news of an apparent falling-out between two of Lyon's most threatening players, Karim Benzema and Hatem Ben Arfa.
Benzema made a point of not shaking Ben Arfa's hand when he was replaced by the winger in a 1-0 win over Lille on Saturday; they are said to have the same kind of fractious relationship that Andy Cole and Teddy Sheringham once shared while playing in attack for United.
"It's true they are not the best of friends," said the Lyon coach, Alain Perrin. "They wouldn't go out for a drink together, for instance. But it's nothing to stop them playing in the same team. It's a personal situation and should have nothing to do with the game."
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