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Manchester Evening News
Manchester Evening News
Sport
Samuel Luckhurst

Manchester United discover Europa League last 32 opponents in draw

Manchester United have drawn Real Sociedad in the Europa League round-of-32.

United will be reunited with former prodigy Adnan Januzaj and Manchester City great David Silva. United have only played Sociedad twice before - in the 2013-14 Champions League group stage.

United were seeded for the draw as they were one of the four teams with the highest points tallies in their Champions League group.

The first leg will be played on February 18 and the second on February 25. United are due to play at home against Newcastle between the legs.

United will embark on their fifth Europa League campaign in the last 10 seasons, having previously been demoted to the competition's knockout stages in 2012 and 2016.

They progressed to the last 16 under Sir Alex Ferguson in 2012 but were comprehensively outclassed by Athletic Bilbao and lost 3-1 on aggregate at the same stage to Liverpool with Louis van Gaal as manager in 2016.

Jose Mourinho guided United to their only Uefa Cup victory in 2017 as the club won the last remaining major trophy with a 2-0 triumph over Ajax in the Stockholm final.

United reached the semi-finals of the Europa League last season but lost 2-1 to eventual winners Sevilla in a straight knockout tie in Cologne. Athletic Bilbao and Liverpool also reached the final after defeating United.

This season's final will be played in Gdansk, Poland, which was due to host last season's final until the coronavirus pandemic forced Uefa to relocate the latter stages to Germany.

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