Manchester United vs AC Milan - Combined XI | UEFA Europa League
In their first European meeting in more than a decade, Manchester United will host AC Milan at Old Trafford in a crunch 2020-21 Europa League Round of 16 affair.
All their ten previous clashes have come in the European Cup/Champions League, with their last one coming in 2010. Both sides have claimed the spoils equally with five wins apiece. However, the Red Devils prevailed in both legs of their last European matchup.
Winds of change have blown over both sides since then, and neither Manchester United nor AC Milan are the same continental forces they used to be.
Yet, the sheer number of talented stars in both camps makes their latest tie still worth looking forward to. However, Zlatan Ibrahimovic is set to miss his reunion with his old colleagues.
Coincidentally, both AC Milan and Manchester United, who are second in their respective league tables, have been deemed as the dark horses in this competition.
However, with one side's European sojourn set to end after this round, we look forward to a mouth-watering two-legged tie between these two European greats.
Manchester United vs AC Milan - Combined XI:
Ahead of Thursday's highly-anticipated kick-off, let's have a look at how Manchester United and AC Milan would stack up in an enticing hypothetical combined XI:
Goalkeeper - Gianluigi Donnarumma (AC Milan)
With David De Gea unlikely to play, the door's open for Manchester United's Dean Henderson to pull on the gloves. But his AC Milan counterpart slots in here, as he has far more influential for his side and has delivered in the big games too.
Given everything the Italian has accomplished with the Rossoneri over the years, it's pretty difficult to believe Gianluigi Donnarumma is still only 22.
This season, Gianluigi Donarumma has kept nine clean sheets in the league. Even though he's yet to open his account in Europe, the time's perfect to finally do that.