Manchester United will be facing Sevilla again for the second leg of the Champions League at Old Trafford on this Wednesday. The first match at Ramón Sánchez Pizjuán remained more in the favor of United largely due to the heroics of David De Gea who prevented Sevilla from scoring any goal. However, the Red Devils must win this time at their home if they are to qualify for the Champions League quarter-finals.
If we compare the two teams, United are looking more in a position of strength than Sevilla now. After the last draw, the Manchester team have won all their three consecutive matches against Chelsea, Crystal Palace and Liverpool.
At Old Trafford, United equalled scores with Chelsea for the previous defeat at Stamford Bridge by getting a 2-1 victory. However, the match against Crystal Palace saw the best of United when they came back in the match after conceding two goals. Both Smalling and Lukaku scored to equalize, and then in the extra time Nemanja Matic provided a stunning goal to get victory for United.
While the match against Liverpool was no less important in the competition for the top four in the Premier League table. Marcus Rashford scored twice to save United from the blunder of Eric Bailly’s own goal and get them the precious points. Three successive wins mean that United will be in the best of forms now.
“Very important,” Matic said after the victory. ” Very important for our confidence to win this sort of game. We won against Chelsea and off course (on Saturday), so confidence will be on a high level, for sure.”
“The next game is very important for us, maybe the most important game of the season. We have to beat Sevilla to go through, so we give our best.”
While if we talk about Sevilla, things are not looking that bright for them. They have just been beaten at their own home by Valencia with Rodrigo claiming both the goals of the game. This was the second defeat for them in four games. They will be playing against United without their star winger Jesus Navas who got injured during their match against Atletico Madrid.
Their record on English home soil does not look promising as well. They have played six matches in total, out of which three losses and three draws came their way with not even a single victory. While on the other hand, the United’s record against Spanish clubs is quite good as they have got nine wins, 10 draws and four losses out of the 23 that they played.
In terms of legaue table standings, Sevilla are currently placed at the fifth position, one point ahead Villarreal while eleven points behind the fourth placed Valencia.
Still it does not mean that Sevilla will meekly hand United the victory. After all, they are the Europa League winners for three consecutive years of 2014, 2015 and 2016.