Malard: Lyon is home!

The France international spent a decade with the eight-time European champions, after moving from her native Reunion as a teenager in 2014.

Malard scored 32 goals during 93 appearances for Les Fenottes and represented them in their most recent two continental triumphs.

Now she’s expected to lead the line for United Women when Jonatan Giraldez’s side come to town, and that’s a prospect that she’s relishing, as the Premiere Ligue outfit still mean so much to her.

“I started in Lyon, now all my family live in Lyon. When I go back home, it’s [to] Lyon,” Malard told our official matchday programme.

“Lyon gave me a lot of opportunities, it opened my professional career, and I have a lot of memories – bad but also good.

“Now when I play Champions League, I know the level because I started with this club at a very, very high level and that’s helped me a lot in my life.”

Lyon have been crowned French champions a staggering 18 times since 2006 and, like United, are among the front-runners in this term’s inaugural league phase.

Ada Hegerberg and Wendie Renard are among the more long-serving and recognisable names in their squad, which Malard says is still packed with talent, despite a lot of turnover since her departure for England in 2023.

“I still follow them, not every time, but I watch because I love football, and I watch a lot of friends,” she added.

“They have a lot of players that are so fast, a lot of players with individual quality. I think the team is not the same as before, but now they also have a lot of experience.

“But I know we’re so good at the moment here in Manchester, and I think we can be good against them in this game.”

Malard is looking to keep up a European scoring streak that started with the opener against Lyon’s domestic rivals Paris Saint-Germain at Old Trafford last month.

She also found the net at Wolfsburg in our most recent continental outing, although the Reds tasted defeat that night in Germany.

The Saxony club are a tried-and-tested outfit, like Lyon, and Melvine believes United will have taken lessons from last month’s reverse.

“I think in this game we learned a lot, because Wolfsburg is a team who also play Champions League a lot.

“When I played with Lyon before, it felt like we were always against Wolfsburg in the final. Now, we understand what the Champions League is, what we need to do versus teams in the Champions League.

“The staff speak about that. We need to work hard in the box, attack the box, but also defend the box. We need to defend more and score more.

“The Champions League is that, it can give you a lot of opportunities to step forward and get better as a team.”

Read more from Melvine, and get the complete lowdown on the Lyon game by picking up your copy of the programme before tonight's game, for just £3.