Adnan Januzaj

'Januzaj has a point to prove against United'

Monday 14 December 2020 16:00

MUTV Group Chat pundits Wes Brown, David May, Ben Thornley and Danny Webber have offered their analysis of Manchester United being drawn against Real Sociedad in the Europa League.

The Reds were paired with the side who currently top La Liga, during a UEFA ceremony in Nyon, Switzerland, setting up a fascinating tie that will take place in February 2021.  

United are determined to win the trophy this season after reaching the semi-finals in 2019/20, although it certainly won’t be easy to beat a Sociedad outfit that is excelling this campaign, with former Academy graduate Adnan Janauzaj and Manchester City legend David Silva both shining. 

In a special episode of MUTV Group Chat, our four ex-Reds offered their opinions of the draw and some of the talking points surrounding the fixture…

‘JANUZAJ HAS A POINT TO PROVE’
Wes Brown: “Any former United player always wants to play well against his old team. Adnan has started off well there, so he and David Silva will want to play well. They’ve taken good advantage of Barcelona and Real Madrid’s poor start to the season and I do have to say it’s a tough draw for us. But Adnan will want to show his maturity now, after going there to Sociedad and they’re top of the league.”
Classic Match: Januzaj v Sunderland Video

Classic Match: Januzaj v Sunderland

The Europa League draw has paired us with Real Sociedad and Adnan Januzaj, who scored twice on his full United debut...

‘THIS IS A BIG CHALLENGE FOR UNITED’
David May: “It’s probably as tough as you can get. They’re top of La Liga and flying at the moment. I know they drew at the weekend but, listen, I don’t think they get much tougher than what we’ve got. Hopefully, we’ll have some good form going into that, from the Christmas period and January, going into February in the Premier League. So there’s no reason why we can’t go there and get a good result to bring back to Old Trafford.”
‘THERE ARE PLUSES AND NEGATIVES’
Ben Thornley: “You can look at it two ways. We’re not going somewhere like Ukraine or Russia, with the red-tape from the Eastern Bloc countries, which always throws something up and involves a lot of travelling, especially considering it’s Thursdays going into weekends. The flipside is we’ve drawn one of the in-form teams in Europe, who are leading the way in a league littered with fantastic sides like Barcelona, Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid. So they are a little bit of a surprise package this year, nobody could argue with their record so far, and it’s going to be a really tough tie, there’s no question about that.”
The last time we hosted Sociedad Video

The last time we hosted Sociedad

Real Sociedad have only played at Old Trafford once before - check out the best bits from that encounter...

‘EUROPA LEAGUE DEMANDS OUR ATTENTION’
Danny Webber: “I think, being totally honest, I was like ‘here we go, Thursday nights in the Europa League’ after we’d worked so hard to get back in the Champions League. But, quickly, we’ve got to focus as it’s another competition we can win. There are some decent sides in it, but let’s go and win it. It’s not like we’re out of European competition altogether. For us, it’s another way of getting Champions League football as you’re guaranteed it if you win the Europa League, even though I’d like to think the league will secure it for us. There are positives to it even though it was a disappointment to get knocked out of the Champions League in the first place.”

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