Manchester United vs Sevilla Match Preview

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After seeing off arch rivals Liverpool last Saturday Lunchtime, Manchester United now divert their focus to European matters once again as they prepare for the second leg of their Champions League Round of 16 tie with Sevilla.

The first leg ended in a drab draw in Southern Spain so there is still very much all to play for at Old Trafford as a place in the last eight awaits. One English team has already been knocked out of the competition what with Tottenham falling by the wayside last week after defeat to Juventus.

While Jose Mourinho will be looking to make sure that his United side are not the second English casualties of this year’s edition of the tournament, the former Porto and Chelsea boss masterminded Europa League success in 2017 and the hope is that his side can go one better this time around.

Local hero Marcus Rashford will be looking for inclusion from the start after his match winning double at the weekend. To be honest after that performance it would be hard to drop the 20-year-old and Sevilla will have to make sure there is not a repeat display if they are to have any hopes of progressing to the Quarter-finals themselves.

Vincenzo Montella’s men were arguably the better side in the first leg last month as they were thwarted by David de Gea in the United goal, it was only the acrobatics of the Spanish international that stopped the La Liga outfit coming to Manchester with a first leg lead.

But with a scoreless opening bout between the two sides, the tie is still wide open especially as Sevilla know that if they can get their noses in front and bag that all important away goal then United will have to score twice.

Therefore, the pressure will be on the home side to deliver as they know they cannot take Sevilla for granted, the fact that Jose Mourinho’s men failed to score on the road is something that could well see them punished this time around.

Sevilla’s preparations for this encounter were far from ideal as they were beaten by Valencia the Mestalla last Saturday. A 2-0 victory for the home side has now increased the gap between the two sides to 11 points.

With Valencia clearly fourth in the La Liga table and with only 10 games left in the Spanish season remaining, it looks highly unlikely that Sevilla will be able to make the top four in Spain come the end of the campaign.

That means a return to next season’s Champions League is unlikely, that is unless they pull off the even longer shot of winning the trophy in Kiev in May. Therefore, this upcoming trip to Manchester could well be the last exploits that the Andalusian’s have in Europe’s premier club competition for quite a while.

Jose Mourinho knows that he cannot deliver the Premier League for Manchester United this time around due to the domestic dominance of their crosstown rivals Manchester City, but he will consider his club having a good chance of anyone else of being European club Champions even if it means having to take on Pep Guardiola’s men in the final.

Mourinho’s United took a massive step to a top four finish after the recent victory over Liverpool and the man who won the trophy with FC Porto back in 2004 will be fully aware that he is only six matches away from repeating that success in 2018.

He will have to make sure that his side clear the hurdle that Sevilla will put in their way, but after such a positive performance against Jurgen Klopp’s men just a few days they will go into this game as favourites.

A tag I expect them to live up to as they put their home advantage to good use, something that Sevilla failed to do themselves in the opening leg and move into the last eight with a clean sheet victory.