Erik ten Hag’s quest for trophies at Manchester United shows no sign of slowing as his team enter the Europa League quarter-finals thanks to their dominance at Real Betis.
The Carabao Cup is already in the bag and the Red Devils are still in the FA Cup with a quarter-final tie against Fulham at Old Trafford, but attention is now turning to who they could face in the FA Cup. European League Quarterfinals.
With a string of domestic matches coming up, United could draw nicely to avoid burdening a squad that is still weak in areas.
United will back themselves up against whoever is left in the Championship now, so here’s who they can go up against and how the tournament has fared so far.
Manchester United They started their Europa League group which included Real Sociedad, Sheriff Tiraspol, and Omonoya Nicosia with a shock defeat at home to La Real. This proved to be undoing their chances of finishing top of the group.
United have won all of their other five matches, while Real Sociedad has won every match except losing to United in Spain. Goal difference meant San Sebastian topped the group and United had to go through the knockout stages, adding two more games that Tin Hag wanted to ignore.
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This situation was made worse when United were drawn to face La Liga leaders Barcelona. This was followed by two exciting matches that finished 2-2 Barcelona Then 2-1 to United at Old Trafford, which meant a 4-3 aggregate victory and securing a place in the last 16.
Another Spanish side was waiting. This time, it was Real Betis, but United worked with them in the first leg by winning 4-1, making the second match in Seville a formality – they won 1-0.
The next round of Europa League matches will take place on April 13 and 20, which means there is a short break before European action resumes.
United are certainly in the mindset now that they can beat anyone in the Championship, but there are some great teams remaining who will think similarly. There are no rules preventing teams from the same country facing each other at this stage and United could get Sporting CP, Roma, Juventus, Sevilla or Bayer Leverkusen, all of which would be very difficult.
There is no such thing as an easy draw when you get to this stage of the Europa League as everyone is there on merit, but Sevilla, Sporting and Sporting… Juventus Are three teams that Ten Hag would rather not face if they can be helped.
Here are the teams United could face in the Europa League quarter-finals:
