Manchester United took on Real Sociedad in their final Europa League group game knowing that a win – by a two goal margin – was needed to avoid a high-stakes play-off match against a team dropping out of the Champions League.
Despite winning 1-0, United certainly didn’t put their best foot forward. In a flat forgettable game the Red Devils lacked dynamism going forward and showed little of the flowing football that United fans have enjoyed during Premier League performances.
A moment of 89th minute mayhem in the box gave United their best chance to make it 2-0 but they didn’t capitalise.
Real Sociedad went into the game with seven first team players unavailable. One of those was David Silva, a figure well-known to United fans following his ten year stint with Manchester City. While he’s no longer quite the player he was, Silva’s quality and experience still shines through and his absence no-doubt helped United.
For United’s part, Antony didn’t travel with the squad and Varane remains injured. Among those who did start, there were one or two surprises.
While many expected another appearance from Harry Maguire, it was Martinez and Lindelof shoring up central defence. Shaw and Dalot appeared on either side yet again. Unusually, Donny van de Beek made an appearance in midfield, with Casemiro and Eriksen also featuring centrally. A surprise start saw Garnacho on the left hand side, with Bruno on the right and Ronaldo leading the line.
But how did the result come together?
During the fourth minute Sociedad created a promising chance, firing just wide. The Spanish side’s attacks looked the most convincing in the opening exchanges, but David de Gea had to wait until a dribbling effort in the 40th minute to make his first save. Eight minutes in, Ronaldo pleaded unconvincingly for a penalty that – rightly – didn’t come.
That slightly toothless start came to a swift end thanks to young gun Garnacho. De Gea knocked the ball long to Bruno, who headed onto Ronaldo. The through ball from Ronaldo saw Garnacho make a powerful run into the box before finishing high into the net.
It was tit-for-tat for the next ten minutes, Garnacho fired another chance over the bar from the edge of the area and there were plenty of stoppages for injuries. On the half hour mark Pablo Marin fired a desperate shot wide from a long way out, showing Sociedad’s frustration.
Ronaldo’s lobbed effort sailed over the bar in the 41st minute and frustrated the Portuguese. Late in the half David de Gea pulled out an impressive double save to deny the Basque side.
The second half started with plenty of pressure from Real Sociedad. Casemiro and Martinez were called into typically impressive defensive action but United held out and made changes in the 57th minute, bringing on Rashford and McTominay for Victor Lindelof and Donny van de Beek. Seemingly Erik ten Hag was unimpressed with the Dutch midfielder’s contribution and hoped for a quick follow up to Marcus Rashford’s decisive weekend goal against West Ham.
Around the 60th minute, Lisandro Martinez was booked for a hard – but fair-looking – challenge on Brais Mendez. Worryingly for United fans he spent a while on the deck, but ultimately seemed to recover well.
On the 80-minute mark, Luke Shaw sprayed a raking early cross into the area that almost found its mark. Otherwise United struggled to impose themselves on the second half in earnest. Harry Maguire and Fred came on late in the piece, with Maguire oddly given instructions to hang around up-front in a sort of target man role.
Last minute pressure amounted to nothing as United forged forward, knowing they needed two. Sociedad were happy to contain the threat and cruised to the final whistle to top the group.