Squali faliti José Mourinho called them and they expect Manchester United.
An early goal from 18-year-old Alejandro Garnacho was enough to defeat Real Sociedad but was not enough to progress as group winners, so Erik ten Hag’s side will launch into a play-off against one of these “failed sharks” of the Champions League: one of Ajax, Barcelona, Juventus, Leverkusen, Salzburg, Sevilla, Shakhtar or Sporting CP will have to be overcome to continue in this competition.
It may not be too terrifying, but it wasn’t how United wanted it. Two more games in the spring are not what they wanted either. Garnacho’s superb goal after a quarter of an hour into his second outing had given them a brief hope of avoiding it, but United needed another goal.
Although they could have pulled it off when Cristiano Ronaldo raced clear in the first half only to let the best chance slip away, and while Ten Hag pointed chances from Bruno Fernandes and Garnacho, they failed to force a save from the Real Sociedad keeper , Alex. I look back
The excitement of seeing the teenager apart: “I hope Garnacho can keep the attitude he has now: he can create, he can give the final pass and he can score goals, so I’m happy with his process,” said Ten Hag , no. Enough has happened to United, apart from a couple of excellent passes from Fernandes.
They finished the game with centre-back Harry Maguire up front. The objective was clear; the route there, a little less.
The good news is that it was still a win and the damage done can still be relative. “Of course we are disappointed not to win by two goals, but in the end we won the game, we kept a clean sheet, we created good chances – there are positives to go back to Manchester,” the coach said afterwards.
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It’s the knockouts: what happens next in the Europa League?
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Who goes straight through to the last 16? Europa League group winners: Arsenal, Fenerbahce, Ferencvaros, Feyenoord, Freiburg, Real Betis, Real Sociedad, Union SG
Who makes it to the knockout stages? European runners-up and Champions League group stage runners-up: Manchester United, Midtjylland, Monaco, Nantes, PSV Eindhoven, Rennes, Roma, Union Berlin, Ajax, Barcelona, Juventus, Bayer Leverkusen, RB Salzburg, Sevilla , Shakhtar Donetsk , sports
When is the playoff draw? Monday, noon GMT, at UEFA headquarters in Switzerland
Each Europa League group runner-up will be drawn against a third-placed Champions League team. No side can face another from its own country
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Earlier, Ten Hag had said: “We know what we have to do in the game: score two goals. In the end they couldn’t. Real Sociedad couldn’t score any, but they didn’t always play like a team content to protect themselves.”
The opening suggested that Real Sociedad coach Imanol Alguacil’s claim that he would also try to score was not wrong, Pablo Marín firing the first shot after just 35 seconds and Carlos Fernández hitting the net four minutes later. .
The Real Sociedad had accumulated three times as many attacks. And yet that may have suited United, who were incisive when they attacked, the space behind both full-backs to find there, which was how he got his first goal. Fernandes beat Diego Rico with a header, Ronaldo collected and slotted a perfectly weighted pass for Garnacho. He got past Andoni Gorosabel and took a superb shot that lifted over Remiro.
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It was his first for the club; the confidence of the end said that it will not be the last. There was also the confidence of the minutes that followed. This was a spirited display and he soon received a lovely pass from Fernandes to pounce on.
Real kept coming, but there was a nervousness when United came out, which was best expressed when Jon Pacheco hit the ball, with Ronaldo right behind him. Alone, the ball sat, an invitation he never refuses. Ronaldo, however, lifted it over Remiro and over the bar, his lob finishing into the roof of the net.
At the other end, Marín impressed, somehow stopped by a double save from David de Gea. The Spanish goalkeeper’s first save was magnificent; the second, from barely a yard out, saw him recover quickly and dive before Marín’s follow-up, the ball hitting his shoulder.
When Luke Shaw slipped, a poor pass from Robert Navarro wasted a three-on-one. The game was getting topsy-turvy, it felt more and more like a further goal would win it, but there weren’t many clear-cut chances.
Alexander Sørloth threatened twice, Navarro was blocked, the shot total reached 15-4, and then came Maguire, ahead. “Yeah, we needed a goal,” Ten Hag said, but they didn’t get it.