Sevilla are one of the most successful teams in the competition and have always been able to raise their level in this tournament.
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Manchester United are set for a blockbuster quarter-final first leg contest against Sevilla in the Europa League. The Red Devils might be the in-form team among the two sides if their domestic form is taken into consideration. United have already won a trophy (EFL Cup) and are doing well in other competitions too. On the other hand, Sevilla are surprisingly struggling in La Liga this season. They are placed 13th in La Liga table and are look set to miss out on Europe for next campaign.
Hence, a successful Europa League season seems like their only option of returning to Europe next campaign. That, however, works for Sevilla. They are one of the most successful teams in the competition and have always been able to raise their level in this tournament. It is something Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag is fully aware. He was asked how important will it be to take a lead to Sevilla in the second leg.
Erik ten Hag told club media, “Absolutely and we are fully aware of it: how good they are. They have the record of Europa League winners and if you want to beat them, you have to give your best performance and you have to do it in two legs. First we have to start tomorrow and we need a good result and that result is only a winning result. We are fully aware of that and we have to give our best.”
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Ahead of the first leg of the quarterfinals, Manchester United suffered a big blow when it was announced that their star striker Marcus Rashford will miss this game and few more matches. Speaking about the confidence he has in the team’s attacking quality, ten Hag said, “Yes, we have a squad. We have squad depth and we can replace [him]. Of course when players fell away, [we can] bring in other qualities into the team and as a team you have to adjust. Maybe go a little bit different but still we know what we have to do. We have to win games and we want to win in an adventurous and proactive way.”
On positive front, Manchester United have recently welcomed Christian Eriksen and Anthony Martial from injuries. Besides, Casemiro is also back from suspension. “That’s what I mean, so that’s the very good news, that we have players that drop out, other players are then returning and quality players are returning. So yeah we are happy with it and I think those players are full of energy, they are highly motivated because they fell out [of the squad] for certain reasons for a couple of games,” he explained.
“So they are returning back and they want to contribute. We are in the right position as a team. We are competing in three competitions, we can win everything in those competitions and we go to the end of the season. This is the situation you want to be in and the players want that as well. They want to be in the team, they want to collect trophies so they will give their best.”
