Yuvraj Singh
Potential playoff opponents if Manchester United finish second in their UEFA Europa League group.
Erik ten Hag’s Manchester United face Real Sociedad in their last fixture of the UEFA Europa League Group Stage with both teams already qualified for the next knockout rounds.
Although United and Sociedad have already qualified for the next round, the match does hold some significance due to uncertainty over who finished top of the group.
Currently, the Spanish side is top of the table having won all their five games with United second, having lost to the same opposition 1-0 on the opening day of the UEFA Europa League fixtures.
The advantage of finishing top of the table is that the team will advance straight to the round of Group of 16 while the runner-up would have to enter a play-off stage, where the team will end up meeting one of the exits from this year’s UEFA Champions League.
For United to finish the top at 1st place, they would have to beat Sociedad by a margin of two goals or more or risk facing a top team who have just exited from the UCL.
Although we do not wish for such a situation to occur, it is important to know of the possible opponents as given by Manchester Evening News, that we could face if we do end up finishing second.
There were heavyweight exits from the UCL this season with top teams in Ajax Amsterdam, FC Barcelona, Sevilla, Bayer Leverkusen, Sporting Lisbon, Juventus, Shakhtar Donetsk, Red Bull Salzburg and Dinamo Zagreb.
Clearly, a clash with any of these teams would be no less than a Champions League game. It would certainly be an advantage for us if we can avoid entering the play-off, which is only possible if we win by a margin of two goals or above on Thursday night.
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With Sociedad missing key players, it provides us with the perfect opportunity to strike and considering the good form that the team has shown recently, there is definitely a huge possibility that we can achieve the objective.
