Despite defeating Real Sociedad 1-0, Manchester United was obliged to finish second in Group E of the UEFA Europa League (UEL), which qualified Txuri-urdin for the round of 16.
Alejandro Garnacho gets his first senior goal in this match report as Manchester United defeat Real Sociedad 1-0 in Spain to finish second in their Europa League group. Erik ten Hag’s club will now play in a two-legged play-off round against a third-place Champions League team in February.
As a consequence, United comes in second place in Group E, trailing Sociedad on goal differential, and will now face a third-place Champions League team in a two-legged play-off round in February. At order to pass Sociedad, United needed to win by a score of two in San Sebastian, and they got off to the perfect start when youngster Garnacho handled a beautiful through ball from Cristiano Ronaldo before advancing and scoring in the 17th minute. The 18-year-old scored, passing George Best to become United’s youngest non-English goal scorer in a European match.
Ten minutes after the Argentine’s miss, Ronaldo almost missed a wonderful opportunity to increase United’s lead just before halftime when he hoisted his shot over the crossbar. David de Gea’s superb double saves guaranteed that United had the necessary lead at halftime, but despite the arrivals of Marcus Rashford and substitute attacker Harry Maguire, they were unable to score the crucial second goal after the break. In the end, Sociedad stayed resolute, protecting their one-goal deficit, knowing that it would seal first place in Group E and guarantee a berth in the round of 16 of a UEFA competition for the first time in over two decades.
On Monday, the play-off draw for the Europa League will be held. Barcelona, Juventus, and Ten Hag’s previous team, Ajax, are some of the teams United may play in the following round as the runners-up.