“Joshua is out for the season,” said Ruben Amorim. “So he’s not going to play more this season. Let’s prepare him for the next one.

“It’s tough, especially in this moment. I think he’s improving in all aspects of the game, so it’s hard for any player to stop, but this is football and he has to be ready now to recover.”

Speaking after the 2-2 draw in Lyon during the first leg Joshua Zirkzee was confident Man Utd could win this tie.

The forward will not feature tonight due to injury but spoke after last week’s game.

“To draw in this way is always a little bit… I don’t want to say frustrating, but it hurts for it to go this way,” Zirkzee said.

“We all know what we have to do when we face them again at home.

“I’m sure with the full support of the stadium, it’s going to be difficult for them and easier for us, but they’re a great team – let’s not forget that – and it’s not going to be easy, but we all want to win, we have to win, so we’ll see.”

Paulo Fonseca said: “We’re playing here at Old Trafford against a great team that has the same ambitions as us.

“That’s why I’m only focused on the next game. It will be a decisive match for United’s season.

“We want to play well in this game and have the chance to win, but we know it will be difficult. Then we’ll see.

“We have several possibilities in the league, but today it’s important to focus on our ambition. Our ambition is to play a great game and have the chance to qualify.”

It came as a major blow ahead of United’s crucial Europa League quarter-final second leg against Lyon, which sits finely poised at 2-2 after Andre Onana put in another erroneous display in the first encounter.

Paulo Fonseca says that Lyon will be intense when they come up against Manchester United tonight and they have the ambition to win the game.

The Lyon coach told the media at a press conference:

“We come with the same ambition to play our game, to have the ball and to create the right conditions to attack effectively against a team that defends well.”

Lyon midfielder, Corentin Tolisso, says that winning the duels will be key to coming out on top tonight and is backing teammate Rayan Cherki to get his team over the line.

Tolisso said: “We’ll put in as much intensity as in the first leg, if not more. The key to the match will be to win the duels in my opinion.

“He [Cherki] does things that are all over social media. He’s performing better statistically. He scores, he provides assists. I hope they will know his quality even more after the match.”

As he left Manchester United’s Carrington training ground on Wednesday, Altay Bayindir wound down the window of his car to pose for photos with supporters. He has attracted more attention of late. The cameras will be trained on the Turkey international again on Thursday night, but he will be found in the dugout. His reaction to any goalkeeping mishaps will be scrutinised.

Maguire continued and drew the focus back to himself and his teammates for their performances on the pitch.

He added: “I think the performances have picked up of late. However, I still think there are key aspects in the game where us players have got to take more responsibility and have to change them in our favour.

“There have been a lot of games that have been 50/50 and we have ended up on the bad end of a result. That is something we need to work on as a team, as a group of players.

“[Thursday] is an important night for us in the competition: A big game at Old Trafford, European night and one we are looking forward to.”

Man Utd defender Harry Maguire says that winning the Europa League isn’t enough to stop this being a disappointing season for the club.

He told the media: “There is no doubt about it that if we do win the Europa League it is still going to be a disappointing season for us as players but winning that would be a big bonus.

“Playing for this club demands trophies and winning the Europa League would be a special one.

“It would give us access to the Champions League next season, something we obviously cannot gain through the Premier League because our results haven’t been good enough.”