Europa League preview: Man Utd seeking response in Moldova

The Red Devils slipped to a 1-0 defeat at home to Real Sociedad to open the campaign while Thursday’s hosts claimed a convincing 3-0 win at Cypriot side Omonia Nicosia. 

The loss to was swayed massively by a contentious penalty in the visitors’ favour, though, after Lisandro Martinez was deemed to have handled the ball despite the ball deflecting off his leg first. 

While it ended United’s four-game unbeaten run before the fixture, it has since led manager Erik ten Hag (52) to describe the upcoming encounter against Sheriff as a must-win match. 

“Pressure is for every game, we have to win every game,” he said.

“When you lose the first game, you have to win the second, so we know what our task is. We always play a strong team, so also (on Thursday) we will play a strong team.”

But United will not have things easy against Sheriff at the Zimbru Stadium, in what is set to be the first-ever meeting between both teams. 

Iyayi Atiemwen, Rasheed Akanbi and Mouhamed Diop tallied in last week’s opening win against Omonia, while the hosts also claimed a 2-0 victory in the Super Liga over Milsami at the weekend. 

United’s trip to Moldova has been filled with a number of injury concerns with Marcus Rashford a notable name who has not made the journey. 

Anthony Martial has still been nursing an Achilles issue, although Luke Shaw has recovered from a foot injury in time to be part of the squad. 

Across Group E, table-toppers Sociedad will be looking to keep up their winning start to the competition when they host Omonia.