Manchester United will be pitted against FC Copenhagen in the quarter-final of the UEFA Europa League this evening which will be played at the RheinEnergieSTADION in Cologne. Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s side earned their place in the last eight of the competition by Beating Linzer ASK 7-1 on aggregate, scoring five goals in the first leg beck in March, winning 2-1 on Wednesday evening. Copenhagen beat İstanbul Başakşehir 3-1 on aggregate to reach this stage.
Solskjaer’s side earned a place in the UEFA Champions League next season by finishing third in the Premier League this season, beating Leicester City 2-0 in the final match of the season, finishing four points ahead of Leicester, a team who were 14 point ahead of them earlier in the season. United will be able to play for fun and pride in this tournament knowing that they have nothing to lose and everything to win. This could be the start of something special for Solskjaer especially facing compatriot Ståle Solbakken.
Manchester United:
Romero;
Wan-Bissaka, Bailly, Maguire, Williams;
Fred, Pogba;
Greenwood, Fernandes, Rashford;
Martial
Substitutes:
De Gea; Lindelof, Fosu-Mensah, Mengi; Mata, Lingard, Pereira, James, Matic, McTominay; Ighalo, Chong
FC Copenhagen:
Johnsson;
Varela, Nelsson, Bjelland, Boilesen;
Biel, Stage, Zeca;
Daramy, Wind, Falk
Substitutes:
Andersen, Grytebust; Bengtsson, Papagiannopoulos, Bartolec, Oviedo, Mudražija, Kaufmann, Bøving, Hjælmhof
United and Copenhagen met in the group stages of the UEFA Champions League during the 2006/07 season. At Old Trafford, United won the match 3-0 with goals from Paul Scholes, John O’Shea and Kieran Richardson. In the away match played at the Parken Stadion, United lost 1-0 with scoring the only goal of the game. United have not faced the Danish side for 14 years, which were the first two matches between the two clubs in their history. This one-off match will be a good one.
United have played three other Danish teams in European competition starting with Brøndby in the 1998/99 season in the group stages of the Champions League. United won the away match 6-2, winning 5-0 at Old Trafford. During the 2008/09 season in the group stages of the Champions League, United beat Aalborg 3-0 away and drew 2-2 at Old Trafford. The most recent matches were against FC Midtjylland in the Europa League round fo 32, losing 2-1 away and winning 5-1 at home (6-3 on aggregate).
Written by John Walker
