Marcel Sabitzer will be looking to improve his mixed record against British teams during his time with Manchester United.
The 28-year-old, who completed a loan move from Bayern Munich on deadline day, was not in Erik ten Hag’s squad to face Steve Cooper’s Nottingham Forest on Wednesday night because he was still completing his visa process, as per the club’s website.
However, the 68-time Austria international was at Old Trafford and watched his new teammates beat Forest 2-0 and advance to the Carabao Cup final 5-0 on aggregate.
The former Red Bull Leipzig midfielder will be hoping to have his visa resolved in time to be available to make his Red Devils debut in Saturday’s Premier League clash against Crystal Palace at the Theatre of Dreams.
Following the box-to-box midfielder’s move to the Reds, United in Focus explores Marcel Sabitzer’s record against British teams.
Marcel Sabitzer’s record against British teams explored and why the Austrian could be a lucky charm vs Barcelona
Sabitzer has faced Scottish Premiership giants Celtic four times in the Europa League, and he’s come out on top against the Hoops on two occasions, with one win apiece coming during his time with Leipzig and Red Bull Salzburg.
Bayern’s number 18 has also drawn and suffered defeat at the hands of Celtic.
United’s latest recruit enjoyed his only two encounters against Tottenham Hotspur where he played a starring role in Leipzig beating Jose Mourinho’s Spurs 4-0 on aggregate in the 2019-20 Champions League last-16.
Having won the first leg 1-0 in North London, Leipzig beat Spurs 3-0 at the Red Bull Arena with Sabitzer scoring twice for the German outfit.
In his only prior appearance at Old Trafford, Sabitzer came off the bench, just after the hour mark, when Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s side were leading Julian Nagelsmann’s Leipzig 1-0.
United went on to run riot and ran out comfortable 5-0 winners with Marcus Rashford scoring a hat-trick.
But Leipzig would exact revenge on Solskjaer’s Reds and qualified for the 2020-21 Champions League last-16, at the expense of the Busby Babes, having won the reverse fixture 3-2.
Sabitzer set up Angelino who scored Leipzig’s opener inside two minutes with Aaron Wan-Bissaka caught ball-watching.
But Sabitzer couldn’t inspire Leipzig to get past Liverpool in the last-16 as Jurgen Klopp’s men advanced to the quarter-finals 4-0 on aggregate having won each leg 2-0.
A positive omen for Ten Hag’s side ahead of this month’s blockbuster Europa League play-off against Barcelona is that Sabitzer has won all three of his meetings against the La Liga side.
Sabitzer is yet to concede a goal against Barca and his aggregate score from his clashes against the Nou Camp outfit stands at 8-0.
However, while its good news that the Bayern loanee is eligible to play in the Europa League, he will be suspended for the first leg in Spain having picked up three bookings in the Champions League group stages, which has resulted in Sabitzer having to serve a one-game ban.