Real Sociedad vs Manchester United Preview

Real Sociedad will look to return to winning ways when they face Manchester United in the first leg of their Europa League knockout tie at the Reale Arena.

The hosts have suffered back-to-back defeats against Real Madrid and Barcelona but should fancy their chances here, given United’s current struggles.

This is the third time in five seasons that they will be meeting the Red Devils in this tournament. This is a contest La Real have struggled in, having failed to score across three prior H2Hs as the designated home side (D1, L2). Still, head coach Imanol Alguacil should be confident of putting that right, as his side has netted in all ten of their Europa League matches this term. They also tend to save their best form for the Reale Arena, where the Spaniards have been beaten just twice in 14 matches across all competitions (W11, D1), with four of those wins coming in succession in this competition.

Manchester United travel to Spain with several problems. The Red Devils, who are already struggling with serious injury problems that have left their squad depleted, come into this tie on the back of a stressful penalty shootout loss to Fulham in the FA Cup over the weekend.

Fatigue is an added concern here for Ruben Amorim’s side, whose last outing was their third loss in their last six matches across all competitions. Pressure is growing on Amorim, as he faces growing frustration from fans not just because of results but also because of his side’s style of play.

But Amorim can point to the results his side has enjoyed in Europe as a way of calming nerves. The Red Devils have certainly been a greater attacking threat in the Europa League, averaging 18.8 shots per game—the highest number of any side still remaining.

The visitors have also lost just one of their last eight European away matches against Spanish opposition (W5, D2), but that was in their most recent such match against Sevilla (3-0), and six of their previous seven European campaigns actually ended in elimination at the hands of a La Liga side.