Abhranil Roy
Manchester United will take on obscure opponents in the form of FC Midtjylland this Thursday in the Round of 32 of the UEFA Europa League. The Red Devils, who managed to finish 3rd in their Champions League group stage, are coming off on the back of a disappointing 2-1 defeat at the hands of Sunderland. United haven’t been to Scandivania a lot, and here are 5 things you should know about our opponents:
1. The club hasn’t been around for long, infact it was founded in 1999, the same year in which the Red Devils completed the famed treble thanks to a merger between rival clubs Ikast Fc and Herning Fremad.
2. Their home stadium is called the MCH Arena which has a seating capacity of only 9500, out of which 800 seats have been allocated to the travelling United fans. However, those tickets have been priced at a whopping 71 pounds, as a result of which many fans are finding it difficult to fit the trip within their budget. We are likely to see protests and banners against the pricing during the game.
3. They won the Danish league last season, under the tutelage of Glenn Riddersholm. However, Glenn gave up the job last summer and the Danes are now managed by Jess Thorup, who has played for a host of German and Austrian clubs and even took the Denmark side to the semi finals of the European U21 Championships last year.
4. Midtjylland are a unique club in terms of the way they devise their strategies, they depend solely on “statistical data” to develop plans and formations for each game. Chairman Rasmus Ankersen revealed the team focuses on ‘dangerous situations’ in games and they are clients of E4talent, which tracks shots in the ‘danger zone’ (the 12 yards between the six-yard box to the edge of the penalty area).
5. They beat Manchester City in 2008 at the Etihad Stadium in a UEFA Cup Qualifier, and have already beaten Koeman’s Southampton 2-1 on aggregate this season in the qualifying rounds of the Champions League.
