Europa League

2025-03-06 - Real Sociedad vs Manchester United

A Sports Betting Pick by Auls

Real Sociedad v Manchester United
Football: UEFA Europa League Last 16 First Leg
Thursday 6th March 2025 - Kick Off 5:45pm
This game is live on TV

Real Sociedad

Most of the attention will be on Athletic Bilbao's bid to play the Europa League Final in their own Stadium, but Basque neighbours Real Sociedad will be keen on earning that spot themselves. The comfortable win over Midtjylland in the Play Off Round has moved Real Sociedad into the Europa League Knock Out Bracket and they will certainly believe that a victory over Manchester United could open the door to a deep run.

The domestic form has been quite mixed with Real Sociedad sitting in mid-table, while a home loss in the Copa Del Rey Semi Final has put them under pressure against Real Madrid. They have been enjoying playing in the Europa League after an inconsistent start in this competition and Real Sociedad have won 5 of their last 6 ties. More importantly, Real Sociedad have won 4 in a row at home in the Europa League and they will be looking for a lead to take to England next week.

Real Sociedad had won 6 of 8 games in all competitions and will have been confident going into the Copa Del Rey Semi Final First Leg, but they were beaten 0-1 here by Real Madrid and were then thumped 4-0 at Barcelona in La Liga. Prior to the defeat by Real Madrid, Real Sociedad had won 5 in a row at the Reale Arena in all competitions.

Manchester United

Being the manager of a club of the size of Manchester United will always mean dealing with more headlines than you would like and Ruben Amorim has shown his frustration in press conferences in his short time in England. The FA Cup exit on Sunday featured some criticism from Wayne Rooney, but Amorim has bitten back at the former Manchester United striker even as another pathway back into European competition has been closed off.

Silverware is always going to be important to a club like Manchester United, even if it does end up papering over the obvious cracks which can been seen through the current Premier League position. The Europa League is the last real avenue towards a return to playing in a UEFA competition next season and Manchester United are unbeaten in this tournament through 8 games, while winning 5 in a row to finish in the top eight of the Group Stage.

Manchester United have struggled for any kind of consistency under their new manager and 1 win in 4 games in all competitions is not ideal form ahead of a return to European action. They had found it slightly easier to play away from Old Trafford in Ruben Amorim's time in charge and Manchester United had been unbeaten in 4 away games before losing at Tottenham Hotspur and fighting back from 2-0 down in a 2-2 draw at Everton.

Patrick Dorgu is serving a domestic suspension, but is available here. Harry Maguire is a doubt, while Toby Collyer may not be quite ready to return to help the manager with his options. A host of players have been ruled out and not expected to travel with the squad.

Head to Head

This is the seventh meeting between Real Sociedad and Manchester United and all have been since October 2013.

This is the third time Real Sociedad will have hosted Manchester United in San Sebastian- the first game ended goalless in 2013, while the second finished with a 0-1 win for Manchester United as recently as November 2022.

Prediction

The aura around Manchester United has changed significantly in England, but there is still something around the name that makes them tougher to face in European Football.

The best results produced by the club this season have been in the Europa League, but the fixture on Thursday is about as tough as Manchester United will have faced in the competition.

You can say that is especially the case under Ruben Amorim with early away draws at Porto and Fenerbahce earned during Erik ten Hag's final days in charge and Manchester United's recent performances make it very hard to imagine them finding a positive result in San Sebastian.

In recent years Manchester United have picked up some big results in Spain- they had been unbeaten in 7 visits to this country and had won 4 times, although that run was ended in a 3-0 loss at Sevilla in this competition two years ago.

During that run Manchester United had won at Real Sociedad and that will offer the players some encouragement.

However, this squad has been hit hard by injury and trying to learn to work under Ruben Amorim and recent history cannot help anyone look past recent form. Some of the away results under Ruben Amorim have been stronger than what has been produced at Old Trafford, but the performances have not always been very convincing and a lot of the players will be concerned about changes coming up in the summer.

Bruno Fernandes is trying to lead the way, but Manchester United continue to stutter in the final third and simply do not defend well enough.

This Real Sociedad team may not be ripping up trees domestically and have been beaten by Real Madrid and Barcelona over the last week, but both of those clubs are much stronger than Manchester United. Prior to the loss to Real Madrid, Real Sociedad had been producing plenty of wins at their own Stadium, while they have also won 4 in a row here in the Europa League.

Unlike the visiting team, Real Sociedad score goals at home and they have looked pretty well organised and that makes it very hard to look past them at odds against in this fixture.

Games between the clubs have been very, very tight in recent years- the only one that finished with more than a single goal scored was played during Covid and in Turin. All of the other 5 games between the clubs since 2013 have ended 1-0, 0-0 or 0-1, but the feeling is that Real Sociedad's attacking threat can change that sequence in their favour.

Real Sociedad have yet to score at home against Manchester United, but that is expected to end on Thursday and the home team look a big price at odds against to become the latest to place a dagger in United's miserable 2024/25 campaign.