Manchester United vs Sevilla

Last Modified Aug 15, 2018 20:07 GMT

Kickoff time: 1:15 am IST, Wednesday (Late Tuesday night)

Venue of second leg: Old Trafford

Manchester United were the favourites heading into the first leg at Ramón Sánchez Pizjuán. However, when you've got Jose Mourinho, we're always going to get a bit of pragmatism, aren't we? The gaffer instructed his side to adopt a defensive approach in the away leg and though they didn't the away goal that he would have liked, all they need to do is win the return leg at Old Trafford on Tuesday.

The 0-0 scoreline at Sevilla means all Manchester United need to do is win the home leg and they'll be through to the quarter-finals. However, it won't be a straight-forward game for the hosts. Sevilla not only dominated the game at home but were often denied by David De Gea's acrobatics. At home, United will have to attack and that could leave more space for the Spanish side to make use of.

United will be buoyed by the fact that Sevilla aren't doing all that well at in the league and have lost two of their last four games since the first leg was played a few weeks ago. The players have been going through indifferent form while United's confidence will be sky high after stopping an adventurous Liverpool side at Old Trafford this past weekend.

United thoroughly dominated the game and played a very direct game, something that could work against Sevilla as well.

Key players

United are still unsure of Paul Pogba's participation. However, they performances of Nemanja Matic have been key in midfield. Romelu Lukaku will have a key role to play in terms of holding up the play and bring the likes of Rashford and Martial into play.

As for Sevilla, we saw last time the two wingers -- Pablo Sarabia and Joaquin Correa -- saw a lot of the ball. The two will need to be influential once again for the away side to find the back of the net. WIssam Ben Yedder was used as a substitute in the defeat to Valencia and he needs to start as Muriel has looked out of sorts, having scored just once in seven games.

Last but not the least, we can't forget De Gea, can we? United's defence isn't the most reliable, so De Gea could be called into action. He has shown weakness for shots directed at his near post, so perhaps Sevilla can make use of that?

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