Real Sociedad vs Man Utd LIVE: Europa League team news and line-ups as Garnacho starts | OneFootball

✕

Close

Ruben Amorim aware of ‘consequences’ if Manchester United’s poor form continues

Manchester United are in San Sebastian tonight for the first leg of their last-16 Europa League clash with Real Sociedad.

It’s last chance saloon for Ruben Amorim’s side, who were knocked out of the FA Cup in the fifth round on Sunday. Their loss to Fulham, which went to penalties, brought an end to their cup title defence and means the Europa League is their final hope for silverware this season.

Happily for Amorim, the Europa League has been one slightly brighter spot in the Red Devils’ underwhelming season. They finished third in the league phase and are the only unbeaten team left in the competition, while their opponents come into this tie reeling from 1-0 and 4-0 defeats to Real Madrid and Barcelona in their last two matches.

Injuries and a smaller squad could factor into how tonight’s match plays out but if United can avoid defeat they’ll have a strong chance at progressing from the tie with the second leg at Old Trafford.

United on target

Man Utd are averaging 18.8 shots per game in the Europa League this season, the most of any side still in the competition and their best ratio in a European season on record (since 2003-04).

They also have the highest average sequence time (12.9 seconds), passes per sequence (4.5) and possession (61.2%).

Mike Jones6 March 2025 17:30

Fernandes on facing Sociedad

Bruno Fernandes said: “It’s going to be a tough one. A Spanish team that plays brilliant football.

“Very, very good players up front, very (good) quality coming out from the back, so we need to be fresh to run again, because they will make us run and then when we have the ball we have to make them run too.

“We look forward now to the rest of the season, obviously with the main focus now on the next game in a competition where we want to go forward.

“It’s one of our goals for this season to try and get a trophy.”

Mike Jones6 March 2025 17:20

Amorim on how United will cope despite injuries

“We have a lot of experience,” The Manchester United boss said. “Matthijs (de Ligt) is a young player but he has a lot of experience.

“We are ready because the good thing to play in the Premier League is we are ready for everything.

“It’s a big challenge, we are going to face a very good team, really intense, with a lot of experienced, international players. But we are ready because we face that every weekend.”