5 reasons why Manchester United could win the Europa League 2019-20
As European football resumes this week after a five-month delay due to the COVID-19 outbreak, there is considerable interest around the English teams in contention in various continental competitions.
Manchester City and Chelsea are competing in the Champions League, which is set to conclude in Portugal. Manchester United and Wolves are the Premier League representatives in the Europa League and will play out the final few games of their continental campaigns in Germany.
Manchester United will be the first of the four English teams to return to European action when they play the second leg of their Round of 16 tie against Austrian outfit LASK Linz. Should they progress to the next round, a quarterfinal matchup against FC Copenhagen or Istanbul Basaksehir awaits, with a possible semifinal encounter with Wolves in the offing as well.
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s men have their sights fixed firmly on the Europa League final in Cologne on Friday, August 21, where they will seek to lift their first trophy since 2017.
Ahead of the much-awaited return of European football, here are five reasons why Manchester United may go on to lift the 2019-20 Europa League as their long drawn out season draws to a close later this month.
#1: Manchester United have momentum on their side
The Red Devils head into the Europa League campaign on the back of a third-place finish in the recently concluded Premier League.
In fact, Manchester United were one of the form teams in the league in the second half of the season, stringing together a run of 14 unbeaten games stretching back to January.
They take a significant lead into the second leg of their Round of 16 tie against LASK, having dispatched their opponents 5-0 in the first leg just before the COVID-19 outbreak. All signs point to Manchester United continuing their campaign in the Europa League and going deep in the competition.
#2: Winning is the ‘Manchester United way’
Having already secured Champions League football and a short turnaround before the start of the next season, it would have been easy for Manchester United to brush the Europa League off and focus on getting players in peak condition for the start of next season.
However, even though Champions League qualification has always been the priority, manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has reiterated time and again this season that winning trophies is what the club is all about.
Success in Cologne would cap off a successful first full-season in charge for the Norwegian. It would also give a relatively young Manchester United squad a taste of silverware to whet their appetite before the 2020-21 season kicks off in September.