Chisinau (AFP)
Manchester United will be on an arduous trip to Moldova on Thursday, in an attempt to make up for its opening fall in the “Europe League” competition, when it faces Sheriff Tiraspol, who stunned Real Madrid in his stronghold last season in the Champions League.
United began their campaign in Group E with a 0-1 fall at home to Real Sociedad, which made Dutch coach Eric Ten Hag’s men demanded to return from the Moldovan capital Chisinau with the three points, in order to enhance their chances of winning the first place qualifying directly to the final price.
The match will be held in the Moldavian capital instead of the breakaway region of Transnistria, the stronghold of Sheriff Tiraspol, by a decision of the European Union for the game (UEFA) once morest the backdrop of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Sheriff is the capital of a pro-Russian separatist region of 470,000 people located between southern Ukraine and Moldova.
Since then, Transnistria has been protected by Russian soldiers, which is de facto independent, although not recognized by any country in the world.
Athletic, and in order to be able to join the European Football Association (UEFA), the city of Tiraspol, with a population of 100,000, competes in the Moldavian League. A competition that Sheriff has won 19 times since 2001.
After reaching the group stage of the Champions League last season for the first time in its history, and achieving a resounding surprise by dropping Real Madrid in its stronghold 2-1, Sheriff began his career in this group in the best way by defeating Omonia of Cyprus in the latter’s land with three clean goals.
Ten Hag hopes that his players will take advantage of the rest they received from the postponement of the domestic league match once morest Crystal Palace to mourn the death of Queen Elizabeth II.
Sociedad seems likely to win a second successive victory when it hosts Omonia in San Sebastian, but the Basque team plays the match with a somewhat shaky spirits as a result of its loss on Sunday in the local league once morest Getafe.
Like United, the Italian Roma, led by former Portuguese “Red Devils” coach Jose Mourinho and newcomer Argentine star Paulo Dybala, seeks to compensate for its opening fall in the third group at the Bulgarian Ludogorets (1-2), by beating its Finnish guest Helsinki.
The group includes Real Betis, who won in the first round once morest Helsinki 2-0 away from home, and does not want to forfeit his first appearance in Andalusia when he hosts Ludogorets Thursday in Seville.
After settling what is supposed to be his strongest match in Group F once morest the Dutch Feyenoord 4-2, the other Italian capital Lazio will be a guest of the losing Danish Midtland, opening at Sturm Graz of Austria 0-1.
With the very high morale gained by being at the top of the German League for the first time in its history, Union Berlin is a guest of Portuguese Braga with the ambition of compensating for its fall in the first round at home 0-1 once morest Union Saint-Gilloise of Belgium, who is seeking a second victory at the expense of its guest Malmo. Swedish.
For Union Berlin goalkeeper Lennart Grill, “The only thing that matters to us on Thursday is to score our first points. We want to show our face in the league.”
Arsenal, the Premier League leaders, were supposed to meet Eindhoven in the first group summit that the London club opened with a 2-1 victory at Zurich, but the match was postponed due to a lack of police resources following the death of Queen Elizabeth II last week.