Manchester United come away from the first leg of their Europa League round of 16 tie with it all to play for next week in the second leg.
It ended as a 1-1 draw between Real Sociedad and Manchester United in San Sebastian, with both teams looking to book a place in the Europa League quarter-finals.
La Real were poor for the majority of the game and we could see why Antony has performed better in La Liga, with them being Spain’s ninth-best team this season.
They still managed to deny Manchester United a first-leg victory after a controversial penalty brought the Spanish side back into the game after Joshua Zirkzee’s opener.
Ruben Amorim will leave the game with mixed emotions after a depleted squad kept the hosts under control for large periods of the game.
That said, La Real enjoyed most of the opportunities towards the end of the game, after their equaliser appeared to deflate United.
Winners
Although Manchester United did not get the desired result against Real Sociedad, these four players came out of the game with their reputations enhanced.
Matthis De Ligt: Netherlands international Matthijs de Ligt was a leader at the back, putting in a series of challenges high up the pitch to bolster United’s physical threat.
The centre-back touched the ball 42 times and made 6 defensive actions, cancelling out most of the attacks Real Sociedad threw at United.
None of the La Real players were able to dribble past De Ligt.
Casemiro: It may be the case that Casemiro’s best years are beyond him, but he looked at home back in Spain as he kept control in United’s midfield.
La Real weren’t at the races and the speed of the game helped Casemiro. The Brazil international won 83% of his tackles, completed 31 passes and won 8 of his duels.
Casemiro won more tackles (5/6) than any other player on the pitch.
Leny Yoro: With key interventions in both halves, Leny Yoro is getting better with each game. The young centre-back continued to show promising signs against La Real and rarely put a foot wrong.
Yoro completed 93% of his passes (38/41) and had 51 touches throughout his 88 minutes on the pitch.
He made two passes into the final third from defence.
Joshua Zirkzee: Tonight saw Zirkzee score his first goal for United in Europe to open the scoring against La Real.
The Dutch international converted Alejandro Garnacho’s cross first time after some brilliant wing play.
Zirkzee completed 100% of his dribbles on top of 21 passes, winning the ball back twice as well as making two important clearances in defence.
Losers
There were a number of Manchester United players who didn’t quite meet the required standards against La Real.
Diogo Dalot: Although he plays every week, Diogo Dalot’s form has been subject to criticism this season. His passing tonight was atrocious as he kept giving away possession and that killed United’s momentum.
The highlight of his performance came in the build up to Zirkzee’s goal.
Bruno Fernandes: It was Bruno Fernandes’ handball that saw La Real awarded a penalty kick with 20 minutes remaining. That led to an equaliser to fire the hosts back into the game.
Fernandes will count himself unfortunate to be penalised for handball, but his arms were in an unnatural position.
Many will disagree with the decision, but it’s a rule nonetheless.
The penalty came at a time United were starting to look comfortable but it gave Real Sociedad a new lease of life for the closing minutes.
Rasmus Hojlund: It has now been 19 games since Rasmus Hojlund scored a goal for United. That came in the Europa League where he has scored 5 times this season.
It was another game where Hojlund never came close to scoring.
United have no other choice but persist with Hojlund because they haven’t got many other options – bar Chido Obi, who is trying to break into the first-team.
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