Amorim: The dressing room felt quiet

The Reds were left deflated having been only seconds away from leaving France with a first-leg advantage.

Instead, Rayan Cherki pounced on a rebound to score in the 95th minute, after Andre Onana had failed to deal with Georges Mikautadze’s shot.

Onana will also feel like he could have done better with Thiago Almada’s opener and Amorim’s post-match press conference opened with questions about our Cameroonian keeper.

The boss was also asked about our goalscorers Leny Yoro and Joshua Zirkzee, and how he felt the tie was poised ahead of next Thursday’s return in Manchester…

Was Andre distracted because of the crowd?
“I don't know, that can happen. The best thing is to look at the goals and all the actions that Andre has had in the game and to talk with [goalkeeper coaches Jorge] Vital and Craig [Mawson]. This is the best way to help any player - to focus on the game, what happened, what we need to improve and then put the player [in] again.”

Andre always seems to be an upbeat, positive character. How was he feeling after that: was he down?
“No, I didn't see him, to be honest with you. I used these minutes to try to calm down, to come here to say the right things. But it's normal. And I think it felt really quiet, the dressing room. And that is a good thing. We draw away in Europe. That’s always hard. The team is suffering, but we need to change that and we have the opportunity to change. So let's focus on that.”

The focus is going to be on Andre, but is that disappointing for you because otherwise the game seemed to be in control, you created chances. You’re ahead in stoppage time but you’re having to talk about mistakes when the rest is good and you can see that progress…
“Yeah, that’s clear. But we need to have results. We are talking about the performance. We are improving. We are being consistent. I think that is clear for everybody, but then we need to win. And we had the game under control. But the good thing is that the last play before the goal was one play when we want to make the third goal and sometimes you can keep the ball. But I really liked that energy from the team to score another goal. But again: that can happen. We need to focus on changing that next Thursday.”

Ruben I just want to ask about Leny Yoro’s performance tonight, because he took a lot of responsibility on and off the ball…
“Yeah, it's really good. He's really confident. I think he's improving. The physicality was something that he was struggling [with]. He didn't have pre-season so we had to maintain Leny sometimes with a little bit problems and we start again. So we are seeing all the work that all the staff is doing with Leny. He feels at home in Carrington, in our club. So you can see that he's a top, top player.”

Good goal from Joshua Zirkzee after a phenomenal Bruno Fernandes cross. We actually thought you’d start with Zirkzee after your press conference comments. Is there a reason you decided to go with Hojlund?
“Sometimes the most important player in the game is the guys that come on during the game. So he did his job quite well. But again, Rasmus, especially during the first half, he did a lot of runs and pushed the team forward, in one moment that we were struggling to find the right moment to press the opponent. So he did his job. And then Josh did a great goal and also did a great job when he was inside of the pitch.”

In the last round you drew away against Sociedad and won at Old Trafford. How do you see the tie now, do you think you’ve got the advantage?
“No, I think it’s 50/50. And then we have to be really smart in the next round, because we are going to play at home and our stadium with our fans, and they will give us energy. But at the same time, this team of Lyon wants to push us to make possession near the box, to have a lot of space to make transitions. So the next stage we need to play of course, with our heart, but we have to think a lot during the game. So it's a really difficult match, but again, we are playing with our fans and when we play at home, we play with one more player.”

When you do speak to Andre, what are you going to say?
“We have training, go with Vital and we deal with that. So I'm really natural that can happen with any player. There's nothing I can say to Andre in this moment that will help him. So the most important thing is to be natural. And then when the time comes, I will choose the best 11 to play. But I'm really confident in Andre.”