Why Andre Onana uses Vaseline on his goalkeeper gloves as Lyon howlers plunge his future into doubt

Andre Onana is one of several goalkeepers who puts Vaseline on their gloves – but why do they do it?

Onana, 29, hit the headlines on Thursday evening after he was at fault for both of Lyon’s goals in the 2-2 draw against Manchester United in the Europa League quarter-final first-leg in France.

Lyon went ahead through Thiago Almada 25 minutes in before Leny Yoro headed United level on the stroke of half-time with his first goal for the Red Devils.

And United thought they had won it when Joshua Zirkzee added a second late on, but Onana made another error when he parried a shot towards Rayan Cherki, who made it 2-2 going into next week’s second leg at Old Trafford.

During Thursday’s clash, it is unclear if Onana rubbed Vaseline on his gloves, but he has often been spotted rubbing the product on them ahead of matches – but what is the reason for this?

Well, according to The Athletic, Onana doesn’t actually use Vaseline and favours “a substance designed specifically to improve grip”.

Although other professional ‘keepers do use Vaseline – an American brand of petroleum jelly-based products.

Speaking on ex-Man United star Ben Foster’s podcast ‘Fozcast’ Coventry goalie Ben Wilson discussed the topic.

“A lot of the goalkeepers these days are wearing Vaseline on their gloves and I won’t let myself do it,” said Wilson in 2024.

Andre Onana putting the product on his gloves (Credit:Getty)

“Explain the Vaseline thing,” Foster replied. “Because I remember the first player I saw do that was Joe Hart in Brazil at the 2014 World Cup.

“He put Vaseline on his gloves and he said ‘Fozzy, honestly, it is a game changer!'”

“It is,” Wilson added. “But I won’t allow myself to do it, no matter how wet and how damaged my gloves are I won’t do it. The difference is unbelievable.

“I worked with Martyn Margetson at Cardiff and he told me to put Vaseline on. It was chucking it down and one of the guys did it and I could feel it then, it was unbelievable.”

“It’s hard to explain, but if we were in a training session, I could tell which one had Vaseline on their gloves, because as soon as you caught the ball, it does feel grippier,” Foster explained.