Manchester United play their penultimate group game of this season's Europa League on Thursday night at Old Trafford.
The visit of Moldovan side FC Sheriff offers United the chance to seal their passage into the next stage of the competition. They only need a point to secure a guaranteed spot in the knock-out section but ideally they would love a win and the chance to take their fight for the group winners' spot to the final matchday.
United travel to Spain next Thursday to face current leaders Real Sociedad. If both sides win tonight then United would have to seal a win in Spain next week that betters Sociedad's 1-0 success at Old Trafford back in September. If Erik ten Hag's side do that then they will land their spot in the last-16 and not play again in this competition until March. If things don't turn out as well, they will face one of the teams to drop down from the Champions League in a two-legged match in February.
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The eight sides that finish third in Europe's premier club competition will fall into the Europa League and there are some big names already confirmed.
Barcelona, five-time European Cup winners, will enter the Europa League after their 3-0 defeat to Inter Milan. The Spanish giants will be one team United would like to ideally avoid. Another is Sevilla, who have practically dominated this competition in recent years winning it six times in the space of 14 years.
Those two Spanish clubs are the only sides guaranteed to be dropping into the Europa League but Juventus, and a certain Paul Pogba, could be another. They cannot finish in the top two but look a safe bet to finish third ahead of Maccabi Haifa.
Atletico Madrid, Ajax and AC Milan are other sides who could potentially be banana skins for United, with only the latter still holding any hope of qualifying for the Champions League latter stages.
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