Thursday night will see Manchester United host Real Sociedad at Old Trafford to fight for their place in the quarterfinals of the Europa League last-16 tie.
Following their draw with Real Sociedad in Spain Real Sociedad faced Manchester United yet again for a home league match versus Arsenal on Sunday which ended 1-1 after Bruno Fernandes scored from a controversial free kick then Declan Rice leveled the game.
Ending their current season without any silverware seems sure as Manchester United stands at position 14 in Premier League while sitting 13 points below the leading five teams with only 10 games left. Therefore the club depends on winning in the Europa League to secure Champions League qualification for next season.
Sir Jim Ratcliffe took the spotlight this week by sharing his thoughts about various United issues in extensive interviews which included stadium expansion to financial instability in addition to his evaluation of Ruben Amorim's impact on the team.
The present mission of both Amorim and co involves obtaining victories on the field even if their domestic form has declined this year because their trail of undefeated games (W5 D4) throughout the 2022-2023 Europa League continues at Old Trafford without defeat.
Real Sociedad delivered the sole defeat in United's previous 28 home games from the Europa League competition (W21 D6) after Brais Mendez scored a penalty goal to win 1-0 back in September 2022.
Following last week's first leg in San Sebastian, when Mikel Oyarzabal's penalty in the 70th minute negated Joshua Zirkzee's opening goal, the two sides are now tied at one.
After losing all three of their previous home games, including last weekend's 1-0 La Liga loss to Sevilla, Real Sociedad's first-leg tie with Manchester United is their lone win in their past four games.
Following a crushing 4-0 loss at Barcelona, La Real lost their 13th La Liga game of the season and their sixth in nine top-flight games in 2025 after being caught off guard by a sweeping Sevilla counterattack that was ended by Chidera Ejuke a minute after the half.
Like Man United, Imanol Alguacil's team may need to finish strongly in the Europa League if they want to advance to the Champions League the following season. With 11 games left, they are now 15 points behind the top four in La Liga, 10 points behind the top five, and a Europa League berth is assured.
La Real is unbeaten in their past two trips to Old Trafford and has maintained a clean sheet both times, while Real Sociedad enters Thursday's meeting having lost two of their last three away games in the Europa League and six of their last eight away games across all competitions.
Coppy Link >> https://nbcsn.net/zks9b58d