13th April 2016 Kickoff: 2005hrs Anderlecht v Manchester United Football – Europe – Europa League Manchester United will still hope to qualify for the Champions League via finishing in the top four of the Premier League but the way in which this competition cut up in the last round means they are in with a great chance of winning the Europa League and getting automatic qualification to the Champions League as a result. Without any disrespect to Anderlecht or any of the other six remaining teams, they are from a lower level despite United not being the same force of old.
Anderlecht have not had much European pedigree of late so the fact they have made it to this stage of the Europa League will be seen as an achievement. It’s not ideal that they have been drawn against the heavy favourites for this competition but they will happily take on the tag of underdogs again. The Belgians reached this stage following an excellent aggregate win over Zenit who were among the leading fancies for the whole thing along with United. That was then followed by a hard fought victory against APOEL in the previous round but they will know that United present an altogether different challenge. Anderlecht currently hold a narrow lead at the top of their domestic league and despite having some very important league games coming up, they will not want their European adventure to come to an end just yet.
United have long been at the head of the market to win this competition but that in itself brings with it a lot of pressure and expectation. That would ordinarily not be a problem for a team managed by Jose Mourinho but the current team are still finding their way and are far from the finished article, particularly in attack. Participation in the Europa League has been steady rather than spectacular, which is in keeping with most of their season. They laboured at times to top what was a pretty average group before comfortably seeing of St Etienne in the round of 32. It was not quite as easy against Rostov in the last round who made it difficult for Mourinho and his men over the two legs. It may well be a similar type of game against this opponent but United have shown an aptitude to win games in Europa League even when not at their best.
Anderlecht v Man United Betting Tip
There is a huge gap between these clubs both in terms of budgets and the quality of player that those sums of money are able to buy you. Unlike United with Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Paul Pogba, Anderlecht are working in a different universe altogether in terms of personnel and transfers. Lukasz Teodorc is their main threat having scored 20 goals in the league already but it’s very much about the team rather than one player.
I alluded to the fact that even getting to this stage is a success for the home team but there will also be a rivalry with fellow Belgians Racing Genk who face Celta at this stage. United have shown that they are comfortable on their travels of late having won five of their last seven on the road and the nature of this game may suit them better as the home team will try to play at a tempo like against Zenit. That should leave the visitors room hit on the break which is when they are most effective.
Manchester United 19/20 @ William Hill
