Europa League permutations for Reds

Manchester United ended up the only unbeaten team in the Europa League at this phase of the competition, finishing third in the table.

It meant we were relatively comfortable in hitting the target of finishing in the top eight, and gaining automatic progress to the round of 16 on the road to Bilbao.

Diogo Dalot and Kobbie Mainoo’s goals in the 2-0 victory at FCSB ensured only Lazio and Athleic Club bettered our record, and Tottenham were next in fourth. That is significant because it means Spurs, one of the favourites to lift the trophy, cannot now meet United until the final, providing both English clubs go all the way.

Due to the new format, United know we will meet one of four teams in the last 16, with the play-offs needing to be played first before the draw is held next month.

Our opponents will be either Galatasaray, Real Sociedad, AZ Alkmaar or Midtjylland in the next round.

We’ve had some famous battles with Galatasaray in the past, and met Real Sociedad as recently as 2022, with Alejandro Garnacho scoring his first senior goal against them in a 1-0 away win.

Dutch outfit AZ have played us twice, in 2019, while Danish team Midtjylland were, of course, the opponents when Marcus Rashford made his dramatic first-team debut.

The draw for the play-offs takes place on Friday at 12:00 GMT, with the two-legged ties being held on 13 and 20 February.

The round-of-16 draw is then due to follow on Friday 21 February, with the route to Bilbao mapped out at this point, including the quarter-finals and semi-finals.

The last-16 games will be played on 6 and 13 March.

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