In the Europa League, Sevilla have always been an extremely difficult opponent. They have enjoyed great success in this competition.
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Manchester United have a tricky assignment against struggling Spanish side Sevilla in the Europa League quarter-final second leg. The Red Devils were cruising to a 2-0 lead in the first leg before throwing it away in the end, allowing the then visitors to level the score 2-2. A week later, United are now traveling to Spain with the hope of securing a semi-final spot. Even though recent form is not making a good reading for Sevilla, who are more closer to the relegation zone than Champions League places in the La Liga table, they can never be under estimated in this competition.
In the Europa League, Sevilla have always been an extremely difficult opponent. They have enjoyed great success in this competition. Despite their struggling form in La Liga, Sevilla can never be written off in this tournament. Hence, Manchester United have to be at the top of their game to beat them and to do that they need their goalkeeper David De Gea in fine form. Speaking ahead of the match in his press conference, manager Erik ten Hag was asked what are the most important attributes for a shot-stopper.
“Stopping goals, avoiding goals as that is the main job for a goalkeeper. You can do it in many more ways, everyone has their own particular style and nowadays in possession, it becomes more and more important, especially at the top level because there you take control and it is more difficult for the opponent to gain pressure, you also concede less chances. But at the end of the day it’s about stopping goals, stopping shots, stopping crosses, one-on-ones etc so that is more like the classic goalkeeper. I think David is really multi-functional and a really compete goalkeeper. We are very happy with him,” he was quoted saying by his club’s website.
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Ten Hag then revisited the first leg and how Manchester United suffered a sudden collapse towards the end. “It is clear how the game went, it is a tie about two legs and I think we played for over 60 minutes quite well. Then the last 30 minutes we dropped a level and we became passive. It is not acceptable and we know that, you see what happened when you are playing a game for only 60 minutes. You cannot do it and when you do, you get punished. You have to be aware of it and I think the lessons we spoke about, we saw it on Sunday, then you have seen a different Manchester United. Tomorrow we have to go again,” he explained.
Erik ten Hag believes Christian Eriksen will be a key part of the team’s set up in the second leg. Eriksen returned to the starting line-up at the weekend and was in excellent form against Nottingham Forest. Speaking about him, the Manchester United said, “His abilities are reading the game, finding the positions, coaching, composure on the ball, final pass. Definitely, he is very important for us as he is experienced in Europe, in the Premier League and playing in big games. Tomorrow [he] is that item.”
