Leading 4-1 from the first leg, you could argue that Manchester United already have one foot in the Europa League quarter-finals when they take on Real Betis on Thursday.
The result was made even more impressive given Betis’ from in La Liga this season.
The Europa League may not have been necessarily top of every fan’s wish list this season, but it still presents us with a chance to win more silverware, and in doing so we would also guarantee our place in next season’s Champions League.
Winning trophies is what football is all about and with the quarter-finals on the horizon, we take a look at three things to look forward to when we take on Real Betis in the second leg of the tie:
The youth get a chance
With the Reds already 4-1 up on aggregate, I wouldn’t be surprised to see Ten Hag make a number of changes to his starting eleven to face Betis. Alejandro Ganrancho, Facundo Pellistri and Kobbie Mainoo could all be involved on Thursday and with that comes the opportunity to see our younger players flourish.
Big game pressure experience
Games away in Europe are never easy affairs and I expect Thursday to be no different, despite our aggregate advantage. You feel Betis will make much more of a game of it this time round and with that comes plenty of pressure which Ten Hag and United will need to handle should we wish to progress. Experience is something which you can never get enough of and is something which the players particularly the younger players can only benefit and learn from.
Casemiro playing
Despite been sent off against Southampton at the weekend Casemiro is able to play against Real Betis on Thursday. His four game suspension fortunately only applies to domestic games meaning that Casemiro can still feature in the Europa League games. The Brazilian has arguably been the Reds best player this season alongside Marcus Rashford and without him we are simply not the same side and with the Brazilian available and expected to start it will certainly go a long way to helping United and Ten Hag progress to the quarter-finals.
