In this season's tournament, the Red Devils have already eliminated two La Liga teams, Barcelona and Real Betis, while Sevilla have advanced past PSV Eindhoven and Fenerbahce. The Red Devils won the EFL Cup at the end of February, ending their six-year trophy drought. They are currently competing in the FA Cup and are getting ready to face Brighton & Hove Albion in the competition's semi-finals on April 23. Ten Hag's team has won back-to-back home league games against Brentford and Everton while maintaining a perfect record in both contests. They currently sit in fourth place in the Premier League standings, three points ahead of Tottenham Hotspur in fifth. Man United, the 2017 Europa League champions, will have a demanding final week as they play six more games, including both legs of their quarterfinal match against Sevilla at Estadio Ramon. Sevilla stands between the English giants and another major European semi-final, and they have lost their last two games against the La Liga team, including in the semi-finals of the Europa League back in 2020. The Red Devils defeated Real Betis 5-1 on aggregate in the round of 16, then eliminated Barcelona in the Europa League knockout round playoffs. Delivering three trophies and a top-four finish would represent an excellent first campaign for Ten Hag at the helm, and it will be fascinating to see how the season ends for the Red Devils.

There is no getting away from the fact that it has been a desperately disappointing domestic campaign for Sevilla, with the team currently sitting down in 13th position in the La Liga table. Los Nervionenses must win this competition in order to participate in the Champions League for the 2023–24 season even though they are currently five points clear of the relegation zone and 19 points behind Real Sociedad in fourth place. In each of their last three La Liga seasons, Sevilla has finished fourth. This time around, however, that will not be the case. They have also struggled mightily in the knockout stages of the Europa League, losing both of their second legs to PSV Eindhoven and Fenerbahce. In fact, despite losing the second leg in Turkey, the Seville giants advanced 3-2 overall in their knockout stage playoff before defeating Fenerbahce 2-1. Sevilla, although struggling to impress for much of the season, must be taken seriously in this event because they have won the Europa League six times, which is a record for the competition. Their most recent victory came in 2020. The team of Jose Luis Mendilibar will be coming off a 2-2 draw with Celta Vigo last Friday in La Liga, so they will have had a little more time to recover for the first leg today.

(image by:The Analyst)