(Football news) While the Red Devils secured third spot in the 36-team League Phase standings, La Real finished 13th and required a 7-3 aggregate victory over FC Midtjylland in the playoff round to reach the knockout rounds.

A pivotal week for Ruben Amorim’s Manchester United began in disappointing fashion on Sunday as the FA Cup holders were knocked out in the fifth round by Fulham, losing 4-3 on penalties following a 1-1 draw in 120 minutes at Old Trafford.

Manchester United are guaranteed to end their domestic campaign trophyless, and as they languish 14th in the Premier League table, 13 points behind the top five with 11 games remaining, the pressure is on Amorim and co. to deliver Europa League glory if they wish to qualify for next season’s Champions League and salvage something positive from what has been a dismal 2024-25 campaign.

While Manchester United’s recent form on the domestic front has been patchy, they are somewhat surprisingly the only remaining Europa League team who are yet to lose in this season’s competition after recording three draws and then five consecutive wins in their eight League Phase matches.

Only Galatasaray (19), Lazio and Tottenham Hotspur (both 17) scored more goals in the League Phase than Manchester United (16), who are averaging 18.8 shots per game in this season’s competition—their best ratio in a European campaign since records began in 2003-04.

The Red Devils can travel to San Sebastian hopeful of picking up a positive result on Thursday, as they have lost just one of their last eight European away matches in Spain (W5 D2), although that defeat was in fact their most recent such encounter at Sevilla (3-0) in the second leg of a Europa League quarter-final tie in 2022-23.

Real Sociedad are in the midst of a challenging run of fixtures and they enter Thursday’s contest on the back of successive losses to Spanish giants Real Madrid and Barcelona, losing 1-0 at home to the former in the Copa del Rey just five days before being thrashed 4-0 by the latter in La Liga on Sunday.

The 17th-minute dismissal of Aritz Elustondo proved costly, as Barca scored twice in the next 12 minutes before adding a third and a fourth midway through the second half to condemn La Real to their 12th La Liga defeat of the season and their fifth in eight top-flight games in 2025.

Imanol Alguacil’s side may be required to go all the way in the Europa League if they wish to qualify for next season’s Champions League, as they have slipped to ninth in the La Liga table and 12 points behind the top four with as many games remaining; they are also 10 points behind the top five and a guaranteed Europa League spot for next season.

Real Sociedad have never progressed beyond the last 16 in a major European competition in the 21st century, and success on Thursday could be crucial if they wish to achieve that, as they have advanced from eight of their last 10 European knockout ties when they have won the first leg.

However, La Real have never beaten an English team on home soil (D1 L3), failing to score in each of their last three matches against none other than Manchester United, whom they have only beaten once overall in six previous European meetings—a slender 1-0 group-stage victory at Old Trafford in September 2022.

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