It is all to play for at Old Trafford as both teams aim to reach the UEFA Europa League quarter-finals. We look ahead to Thursday’s clash with our Man Utd vs Real Sociedad prediction and preview.
Man Utd vs Real Sociedad Stats: The Key Insights
Manchester United are the favourites for victory in 90 minutes, winning 50.4% of pre-match simulations by the Opta supercomputer.
United’s only home defeat across their last 28 Europa League matches at Old Trafford (W21 D6) was against Real Sociedad in September 2022.
Mikel Oyarzabal’s goal in the first leg against Man Utd made him La Real’s all-time leading scorer in major European competition.
Ruben Amorim will hope to distract from Manchester United‘s Premier League struggles by reaching the UEFA Europa League quarter-finals on Thursday night.
A winner-takes-all decider awaits at Old Trafford against Real Sociedad, who battled to a 1-1 draw in the first leg as Mikel Oyarzabal’s penalty cancelled out Joshua Zirkzee‘s second-half opener.
That leveller from 12 yards saw Oyarzabal become La Real’s all-time leading scorer in major European competition, with his 11th strike moving him past Jesús María Satrústegui and Darko Kovacevic (both 10).
It was also Oyarzabal’s fourth goal in the competition this season, his most in a single European campaign. But La Real will need their star man to deliver again as they face a tough task on the red side of Manchester.
Amorim’s team are still unbeaten in the 2024-25 Europa League (W5 D4), with United last playing more games before their first defeat in a European campaign in the 2010-11 UEFA Champions League (12).
Stretching beyond this season, United’s only home defeat across their last 28 Europa League home matches (W21 D6) was against La Real in September 2022. In the knockout stages, they are unbeaten in 15 (W10 D5) since losing 3-2 to Athletic Club in March 2012.
However, that impressive European record has not translated into domestic success, with United sitting 14th in the Premier League table. They did manage a hard-fought 1-1 draw in Sunday’s clash with Arsenal, though, as Bruno Fernandes’ free-kick opener was cancelled out by Declan Rice.
La Real have also had little to shout about domestically, with Imanol Alguacil’s side 11th in La Liga after Sunday’s 1-0 home defeat to Sevilla.
Imanol’s team did, however, win their last European away game after beating FC Midtjylland 2-1 in this season’s play-off round. They have failed to keep a clean sheet in any of their last six away games, though, conceding 10 goals in the process.
In terms of team news, United will continue without Jonny Evans, Altay Bayindir, Kobbie Mainoo, Mason Mount, Luke Shaw, Amad Diallo and Lisandro Martínez. The visitors are expected to be without Jon Pacheco, Alvaro Odriozola and Arsen Zakharyan.
Man Utd vs Real Sociedad Head-to-Head
It might be unwise to expect a classic here, considering there have only been nine goals scored in seven European clashes between Man Utd and Real Sociedad.
Indeed, four of those came in the same game when United coasted to a 4-0 victory in February 2021, thanks to Fernandes’ double and strikes from Marcus Rashford and Dan James.
The first-leg draw last Thursday was also the first time both sides have scored in the same game across their European meetings.
Coincidentally, three of La Real’s four away European games in England have come at Old Trafford against Man Utd (W1 D1 L1), with their other a 6-0 loss at Liverpool in November 1975.
Man Utd vs Real Sociedad Prediction
The Opta supercomputer swayed towards a home win in normal time as United triumphed in 50.4% of 10,000 pre-match simulations.
La Real still hold a 24.5% chance of victory in 90 minutes, with the draw – which would send the tie to extra time and, possibly, penalties – rated at 25.1%.
As a result, the supercomputer gives United a 64.7% likelihood of progressing to the next round. La Real did enough to go through in 35.3% of the simulations.
Man Utd vs Real Sociedad Predicted Lineups
Opta Power Rankings
The Opta Power Rankings are a global team ranking system. They assign an ability score to over 13,000 domestic football teams. This score is on a scale between zero and 100, where zero is the worst-ranked team in the world and 100 is the best team in the world.
Ahead of kick-off on Thursday, here is the Opta Power Ranking for both sides.
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