Europa League: 3 Reasons why Manchester United should win against Sevilla

#2 Manchester United defence should easily nullify Sevilla’s attacking gameplan:

As mentioned earlier, Julen Lopetegui would love maintaining their high-pressing style of play against Manchester United in the Europa League’s one-off semi-final tie next Sunday. And it is worth reminding to all of our readers that Manchester United have struggled to play the ball from the back during the build-up play and that Sevilla play in a 4-3-3 aggressive formation.

However, if we take a closer look at their pressing tactics, we will find that only one of their three forwards is a good presser off the ball while others do their job but not so effectively.

It is their forward Youssef En-Nesyri who has that gifted power of gegenpressing, while Lucas Ocampos, the match-winner of the Europa League quarter-final tie against Wolverhampton, does threaten his oppositions more with his heading qualities than that of his pressing.  And Suso is regarded as a technically-gifted player who finds passes and heads inside the box.

The reaming ones are the workaholic midfielders and two superbly advanced full-backs, who then again try to find headers in the 18-yard box with their eye-catching crossing abilities.

In the game against Wolves, Sevilla players produced a jaw-dropping number of 38 crosses over the course of the 90 minutes, displaying their knack for scoring goals from the crosses. In addition, the winner provided by Ocampos was also a header in the 88th-minute of the game.

That being said, Manchester United have defenders who are able to deal with those aerial battles with ease. Their £80 million acquisition of Harry Maguire could prove to be crucial in this semi-final game.

Although Ole Gunnar Solskjaer did opt to ply Eric Bailly over Victor Lindelof in the starting line-up, it is understood that the Norweigan will return to the latter, who is more apt in the air, for the next game.

With Sevilla looking to stick to their gameplan, Manchester United have a bright chance of denying them from scoring goals in the match. And hence, Manchester could solidify their status in the game with their two aerially dominant figures.