Manchester United have been given a four per cent chance of winning the Europa League this season after being drawn against Spanish giants Barcelona in the play-offs.
Despite beating Real Sociedad in their Group E showdown, United finished as runners-up there, as they needed to win that final match by two goals. Alejandro Garnacho settled the scores at the Anoeta Stadium on Thursday night with his first senior strike for the club.
It was a magical moment for the highly-rated Argentina starlet, but with no second goal to follow it meant United would have to do last-16 progression the hard way. That has been underlined with Erik ten Hag and his team being drawn against Barcelona following their elimination from the Champions League.
Naturally, given their route to this stage of the competition, the Catalans are favourites to win the Europa League - with their chances rated at 23 per cent - with Arsenal (18 per cent) and Ajax (10 per cent) seen to be the other main contenders as per the FiveThirtyEight supercomputer.
The same data makes United fourth-favourites (four per cent) alongside Feyenoord, PSV, Sociedad and SC Freiburg. But what about qualification to later stages?
FiveThirtyEight is currently giving United a 28 per cent likelihood to beat Barcelona in the play-offs. Ten Hag and his squad are, meanwhile, viewed as eight per cent shots to reach the final in Budapest on May 31, 2023.
FiveThirtyEight uses SPI ratings - which have an attacking and defensive component - to determine which team is going to win any specific game. This is then all built up to see how many points each side will accumulate for when the season ends or have the best chance in knockout scenarios.
ameeremkayy
33
✅Liverpool bought Salah for €45m and won the champions league ✅ Chelsea bought Werner for €40m and he won them the champions league ✅ Man City bought Debruyne for €40m and he won them league titles ✅ Arsenal bought Aubameyang for €65m and he won them the FA cup Then our brothers from one corner in Agege bought ❌Sancho €85m who has been trophyless for 2 years😂 ❌Maguire for €80m who has been satisfying them with own goals ❌ The bought a GOAT Ronaldo and turn him to Batshuayi ❌ now they bought Antony for €100m another Samuel Kalu with the dribbling skills of Percy Tau Man United has spend €1.2 billion on players over the last 5 years just to get knocked by Slavia Prague in the Europa league😂😂 ✅The only thing Man United will lift this season is Lisandro Martinez to head a corner for them😂 🤣🤣🤣
N0_N0NsENSE
23
Ronaldo against Barcelona: ★1 man of the match in 34 games ★0 Hat-tricks ★O free-kick goals ★Lost a UCL Final and Semi final ★Got humiliated 5-0,4-0,3-0 😭😭
JoyNg
19
Bayern thought Messi was still at Barca, they went there, found out he was not there, eliminated them anyways and went on looking for the team with Messi now they found him😭😂😂😂