Man United V Lask, 5th August 2020
Ladies and gentlemen, girls and boys, I herby welcome you back to the Europa League. It’s been a while, 147 days to be exact, since we beat LASK 0-5 away in the first leg. And now it’s time for the second leg and final home game at Old Trafford. (When we advance the finals tournament is held in Germany).
For those of you struggling to remember that far back, here’s a short recap of our first meeting;
It was back in March, and our last game before the lockdown. Ighalo started the goal show after 28 minutes, followed by goals from James and Mata, before subs Greenwood and Pereira joined the act with two more in stoppage time.
One can’t talk about the match without mentioning Bruno, although he walked off goalless, he was brilliant, and involved in most of the goals. He made more key passes than any other player on the pitch.
Continuing the Bruno praise; his outside of the foot pass into the forward is exactly the sort of deft delivery that has been absent from our armoury. And in addition to his quality in possession he’s also added to the dynamic within the group with his demanding nature.
Fast forward 147 days and shift focus to today’s match. I have to say it’s hard to imagine LASK being the first ever team to overturn a five-goal first-leg deficit. Against United. At Old Trafford. A tall task, and one should never underestimate the opponent, but even with what I predict will be a team of reserves, I’m fairly confident we’ll advance to the quarter finals.
With the remainder of the tournament set to be wrapped up in 16 days, it will be non stop EL action. 3 more games being played today, and 4 tomorrow deciding which teams will make up the final 8. Except maybe Basel - Frankfurt (aggregate 3-0) and Leverkusen - Rangers (3-1) all matches are open and can pretty much go both ways. Hard to predict who our next opponent will be, but I’m confident we can beat all the remaining teams and collect that awaited trophy. UTFR🇾🇪
Man Utd V Lask, August 5th 2020, 8.00 pm Old Trafford