Manchester United vs AC Milan Preview

Manchester United will look to continue their Europa League campaign this Thursday when they welcome AC Milan to the first leg of their Europa League quarter-final tie at Old Trafford.

The Red Devils qualified for this round by dispatching Real Sociedad with a 4-0 aggregate win during the knock-out round. They will look to go a step further when they entertain the Italian giants in this round.

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s side are entering this tie full of confidence after an impressive derby win over Manchester City on Sunday that extended their unbeaten run in all competitions to eleven games.

In that period, the hosts won five times and kept eight clean sheets. In fact, they have not conceded a goal in four matches and have conceded just twice in their last eight competitive games.

They remain unbeaten in 15 consecutive UEFA Europa League (UEL) home matches (W12, D3), and will certainly be confident in themselves against this AC Milan side that have struggled recently.

The visitors did just enough to qualify for this round, barely scraping past Red Star Belgrade on away goals as the tie ended 3-3 on aggregate.

They will hope to put up a more robust performance in this tie and perhaps qualify for their first semi-final in a UEFA competition since 2007. Although Pioli’s side are unbeaten in their last four games in all competition, they have seen their standards and form drop. They have won just two times in their last seven games in all competitions, keeping just one clean sheet in that period.

Their away record vs English opposition in UEFA competition leaves a lot to be desired (W1, D6, L10) and they will hope they can correct that at Old Trafford where they got their sole win against an English team in (2005).