Manchester United Should Avoid These Clubs—Hargreaves

Manchester United may have crossed the line last Thursday night against Real Sociedad to steal a victory away from home in Spain, it is one of those days that a win is seen as a defeat, owing to the fact the Red Devils now have the task of playing 2 more games against the ‘big boys’ who just retired from the Champions League this season.

Of course, it could have been prevented had the Old Trafford side topped the group table on goal difference against Real Sociedad, but now the conundrum begins for Ten Hag.

For former midfielder of Manchester United and Bayern Munich, Owen Hargreaves though, he has forewarned the Red Devils that their Europa League play-off is not going to be an easy matchup.

Manchester United may meet Ajax, Juventus, and Barcelona in the play-off in February.

The teams that placed second in the Europa League would play these opponents, which placed third in their respective Champions League groups.

To finish first in Group E, United needed to defeat Real Sociedad with at least two unanswered goals, but on Thursday night, they were only able to score once thanks to Gamacho’s first-half goal.

“I’m not like Scholesey, I hope they avoid Barca,” Hargreaves told BT Sport.

“Get Barca in the final, don’t want to play Barca because that could be a really hard game.

“But they’re all really good sides, good footballing sides, with good managers.”

According to the former United player, his former club would do themselves great favor avoiding Barcelona in any knock out phase right now except the final, which the round of 32 comes too early for the Manchester side.