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Manchester United begin Europa League campaign against Astana

Manchester United players in training before their Europa League game against Astana. Image Courtesy: Manchester Evening News

Manchester United is set to begin their European campaign by hosting Astana on Thursday.

After a hard-fought win over Leicester on Saturday, Red Devils will be looking to find some sort of momentum in their form when they host Astana in Europa League.

The Premier League campaign started with an emphatic 4-0 win over Chelsea for United. Since then, it has been a struggle for them in the League as they failed to get a win in the next three games. They currently sit on the third position in the league table.

On the other hand, Astana are enjoying a decent domestic campaign. The Kazakhstan based club is currently third in the league table, five points behind the leaders, but they have two games in hand. United are favorites for this game, but Astana has enough quality and confidence in their squad to cause an upset.

Team News

Manchester United will be without numerous senior players for the game against Astana. Paul Pogba is still recovering from an ankle injury, which he suffered against Southampton before the international break. Luke Shaw will also miss this game due to a hamstring injury.

Anthony Martial is also set to sit out of this game as he is yet to completely recover from a thigh injury. Jesse Lingard meanwhile has returned to first-team training after missing the game against Leicester due to illness.

Diogo Dalot is also expected to feature on Thursday after spending a month on sidelines due to groin injury. The Portuguese full-back worked hard on his fitness during the international break.

Astana meanwhile, has a strong squad available for this game. All the first team players are fit and have travelled to Manchester this week.

From the Dugout

During the press conference (via Guardian) on Thursday, Ole Gunnar Solksjaer spoke brightly about Mason Greenwood. The 17-year-old forward is set to get his first start for Man United tomorrow.

“He’s still very young but he’s been maturing in the last six months.”

“When I first came here I found a kid who just wanted to play with his mates in the Under-18s, but now he’s knocking on the first-team door and his appetite is growing. I don’t want to put too much pressure on him at this stage, I just want him to go out there and enjoy himself.”

“He’ll be all right when the ball lands at his feet because he’s one of the best finishers I’ve seen, but the game is all about working hard and closing down when you don’t have the ball.”

In an interview with Press Association’s Simon Peach, Asthana’s midfielder Runar Mar Sigurjonsson spoke about his family’s excitement about this game.

“I’ve been here a few times before to watch games when I was younger. I’ve not been here now for 10 years but all my family are Utd supporters, come here, most of them, every year”

“For them it’s more than a dream than for me because they’ve watched United for decades. It’s a special moment for the family. It’s a little bit hard who they should support. They’re hardcore Man United fans so it’s not easy to support the other team.”

Head to head

Solksjaer is set to hand starts to fringe players and youngsters in this game. The English side is still expected to come out of this game with three points on Thursday. These two sides are meeting first time in a competitive game, in fact United are playing against a side from Kazakhstan for the first time.