Manchester United supporters might be dreading the prospect of Thursday night European football next season, but tonight they might be able to finally enjoy some.
The brief mention of the Europa League is enough to trigger flashbacks of the penalty shootout defeat to Villarreal in the final last year, a match that typified the unfulfilled potential under former manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.
After victory against Brighton on Tuesday night, United once again captured the lead in the most underwhelming of top-four races this season, though they could soon lose that advantage if one of the other three chaotic contenders manages to find some sort of form in the weeks ahead.
United fans are in need of a pleasant distraction from current events at their club, and this week the Europa League offers just that as Dortmund face Rangers in the first-leg of their knockout round playoff tie.
There is always a United interest when Dortmund take to the field, given their long-held admiration for star players Erling Haaland and Jude Bellingham. The likes of Julian Brandt and Thomas Meunier have also been looked at previously by the club, and defenders Manuel Akanji and Dan-Axel Zagadou are both currently linked with moves as well.
However, the most interesting factor concerns Rangers loanee Amad, a player United committed £37million to purchase when they signed him from Atalanta two years ago.
It's in European football where Amad has made the biggest impact in his fledgling career, featuring four times for United in the Europa League last season, netting his first senior goal with a delightful header against AC Milan at Old Trafford.
Even before that, it was in the UEFA Youth League where he first dazzled English scouts, terrorising Man City for Atalanta when the two youth sides met back in 2019. The Ivorian youngster absolutely ran the show, skinning Taylor Harwood-Bellis and then Eric Garcia to score a fine solo goal. In fact, it was a performance so good that City's coach admitted in the return fixture that their plan was basically to nullify him: give him as little of the ball as possible and stop him by any means necessary when he did get it.
There have been glimpses of such talent during his time at United too, primarily at youth level, where he has registered six goals and four assists from just five U23s appearances.
It hasn't quite worked out for him at senior level so far, with Amad only registering 331 minutes of football in competitive matches for the United first-team.
The plan was always to send him out on loan this campaign, and he would have left last summer had a training ground injury not scuppered his proposed move to Feyenoord. Instead, he had to wait his time, eventually signing for Rangers on loan last month as he looked to kick start his career in British football.
Amad started well with a goal on his debut against Ross County last month, but in his first real test he — and Rangers — crumbled as they were thumped 3-0 by fierce rivals Celtic in the Old Firm. The Ivorian was taken off at half-time with his side three goals down and has not started in either of the two league matches since.
How fitting it is then that Amad's chance to prove a point this week comes against Dortmund, the side that looked at signing him as a replacement for Jadon Sancho had they sold him to United a year earlier, back in 2020.
Their long-held interest in the Ivorian is further endorsement of what a fine young prospect United have on their hands, if, of course, they can find a way to actually unlock it.
A title race in Scotland and a two-legged tie against one of the most exciting teams in Europe is certainly one way of finding out if he really is ready for the scrutiny of a regular right wing role at Old Trafford next season.
Maybe Thursday nights aren't so bad after all.
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