Real Sociedad beaten ahead of Thursday’s tie

Real Sociedad beaten ahead of Thursday’s tie

While Manchester United were facing Fulham in the Emirates FA Cup fifth round, our Europa League opponents on Thursday were also in action.

Real Sociedad suffered a testing encounter away to Barcelona, with Aritz Elustondo’s 17th-minute red card contributing to a chastening afternoon in La Liga.

The 10 men did not muster a single shot as two goals in each half secured a 4-0 victory for the title-chasing Catalans.

Any hopes the Basque side had of repeating their victory over Barca in November were diminished by Elustondo’s dismissal for hauling Dani Olmo down. Of course, the defender’s suspension will not apply to the Europa League.

Gerard Martin opened the scoring and Marc Casado deflected in an Olmo strike to swiftly double the advantage. With the home side in complete control, Ronald Araujo headed in a Raphinha corner and Robert Lewandowski sealed a convincing victory for Hansi Flick’s men.

While Barcelona regained top spot, ahead of Atletico Madrid, La Real are left in ninth place.

The defeat follows a narrow Copa del Rey semi-final first leg 1-0 loss to Real Madrid in midweek.

Obviously, United had a gruelling extra-time tie to contend with on Sunday, plus the pain of exiting the FA Cup to Fulham via a penalty shootout, but will be looking to achieve a positive result in San Sebastian on Thursday.

The round-of-16 first leg kicks off at 17:45 GMT and is live on TNT Sports in the UK.

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