Rio and Vida: Keep it clean

United’s centre backs are aiming for a clean sheet in Lyon tonight, but warn it won’t be easy.

Rio Ferdinand and Nemanja Vidic were both delighted with the Reds’ weekend mauling of Arsenal – not least because the Gunners failed to find the net – and hope United can carry that form into tonight’s Champions League last 16 first leg.

“We had a bad result against Manchester City and we couldn’t wait for the next game so we could put things right,” Vidic told MUTV.

“We’ve done that now – we won 4-0 in an amazing game against Arsenal. That was a nice feeling but now there’s another game to look forward to and we’d love to reproduce that form.”

Ferdinand says the United squad know all about their French opponents and won’t take anything for granted.

“We expect a tough game and they’ve got this far in the competition for a reason: they’re a very good side. The manager’s drilled us and we’re well informed about Lyon. We’ve seen bits on the television and we played them a couple of years ago.

“If we can score an away goal then we’re halfway there, as long as we don’t concede more than one or two ourselves. But our aim is to keep a clean sheet – that will really make life easier in the return leg.

“Last season we reached the semi final and were knocked out by the eventual winners. This time we want to go one or two better than that.

“But there are some big teams standing in our way – the first one’s Lyon. It’s going to be difficult but I think we have the players to achieve things in Europe this season.”