Erik ten Hag has made it no secret that he wants Manchester United to finish their Europa League group stage on top to avoid playing a knockout round play-off with one of the clubs that will drop into the competition from the Champions League.
The Europa League knockout round play-offs were introduced last season. It involves 16 teams: the eight runners-up from the Europa League group stage and the eight third-placed teams from the Champions League group stage.
The ties take place over two legs, with seeded teams at home in the second legs, but Ten Hag will want to avoid this because United’s fixture list is already congested enough as it is…
In Group E, Real Sociedad currently lead the way with 9 points from 3 games – including a win over United in the first game week. United are second – three points behind the leaders – and Ten Hag is demanding wins from the rest of our games to clinch first place.
“I told the players weeks ago, before the break, it was important to win the group,” Ten Hag told reporters, as per the Manchester Evening News. “We want to win all the games, but it’s clear, we want to avoid that [finishing second in group].”
United made hard work of their win over Omonia Nicosia, but at home this week they should be looking to sweep away our friends from Cyrpus.
Losing to Real Sociedad could come back to haunt us!
How to watch Manchester United vs Omonia live
In the UK, you can watch the match live on BT Sport 1, with coverage starting at 19:15 BST.
The match can also be streamed from the BT Sport app if you have a subscription.
