Team news, stats, kick-off time ahead of Granada vs Manchester United in the Europa League on Thursday.
Team news
Manchester United are still without defender Eric Bailly, who tested positive for Covid-19 recently, while Ole Gunnar Solskjaer revealed at the weekend that Anthony Martial could be out for the rest of the season with a knee problem.
Marcus Rashford will travel to Spain but Solskjaer doesn’t think he has 90 minutes in him yet. The United boss has to decide if the forward will start the game after his knock against Brighton.
Juan Mata is available again and will be hoping for a run-out in his homeland while Anthony Elanga is included as one of the forwards after being added to the club’s B list for the competition.
Amad Diallo is also part of the squad but Shola Shoretire is not set to travel, as was the case in the previous round against Real Sociedad.
Granada manager Diego Martinez could be without three of his senior full-backs in Carlos Neva, Dimitri Foulquier and Quini. Neyder Lozano is another long-term absentee while Luis Suarez has a hamstring problem.
Green shoots for Greenwood
0:49
Mason Greenwood’s return to scoring form spells good news for United’s run-in. Greenwood burst onto the scene last season with 17 goals, but the has only managed six this time around.
Greenwood was back on the scoring trail against Leicester and Brighton – the first time he has scored in successive games this term – and a late-season flourish could boost United’s silverware hopes and push the 19-year-old towards England’s Euro 2020 squad.
Solskjaer goalkeeper call
5:06
United boss Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has another difficult choice ahead of him after preferring Dean Henderson to David De Gea for Sunday’s Premier League victory over Brighton.
Henderson appears to be the United number one for now and has started all four of their Europa League games. De Gea has not played since February 28 after returning to Spain for the birth of his first child and will hope to get game-time and show that his Old Trafford career is not over.
Granada threat
Until now, Granada was best known in Manchester for being the name of the ITV franchisee for the north west of England. Granada were in the fourth tier of Spanish football as recently as 2005-06 and this is their second season back in La Liga following relegation in 2017.
Granada finished seventh in Spain last season to qualify for the Europa League for the first time and have progressed from the second qualifying round by beating the likes of Molde, Napoli and PSV Eindhoven. Notable players include former Tottenham striker Roberto Soldado and on-loan Chelsea winger Kenedy.
How to follow
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Opta stats
2:54
- Granada will be the 11th different Spanish side Manchester United have faced in major European competition – they lost their first ever meeting with five of the previous 10 (Athletic Bilbao in 1957, Real Madrid in 1957, Barcelona in 1984, Atlético de Madrid in 1991 and Deportivo de La Coruña in 2001).
- This is Granada’s maiden European campaign – they are the first side since RB Leipzig in 2017-18 to reach the quarter-finals of a major European competition in their first European campaign (UEFA Europa League), while the last side to reach the semi-finals in such a season was Villarreal in 2003-04 (UEFA Cup).
- Manchester United have reached the quarter-final stages of a major European competition for the 27th time, progressing from 17 of the previous 26. They are winless in the first leg of each of their last three two-legged quarter final matches in Europe (D2 L1).
- Including qualifying rounds, Yangel Herrera (who is on loan from Manchester City) is Granada’s top scorer in European competition this season with five goals.
- Manchester United have scored 21 goals in European competition this season, with 13 of them being scored by either Marcus Rashford (seven goals) or Bruno Fernandes (six goals).