Manchester United will be without Alejandro Garnacho in tomorrow’s second leg of the 1/8 finals of the Europa League against Real Betis.
The Argentine suffered a sprained ligament during Sunday’s 0-0 draw with Southampton and could miss up to six weeks.
Anthony Martial should be available after a long break due to injury, but we don’t expect him to start against the Spanish team.
The status of Marcel Sabitzer is unknown. He missed the last two matches due to a knee injury, but his call-up to the Austrian national team suggests that the injury is not so serious. The first key to his availability will be whether he gets on a plane with the rest of the squad this afternoon.
Casemiro should be available and will almost certainly start the game, as his suspension for four matches domestically for the second red card in a row against the Saints is not transferred to European competitions.
However, he will have to be on top, as another yellow received in this game means that he will also be disqualified for the quarter-finals if United advance.
With a margin of three goals in the first match, coach Erik ten Hag may decide to rest some players, but we think he will act decisively to avoid any misses.
However, one player who may be forgotten is Raphael Varane, and we expect Harry Maguire to replace him.
Aaron Van Bissaka seems to be slightly ahead of Diogo Dalot in the fight for the right back berth, although his game against Southampton was unstable. Given that keeping that 3-goal advantage is on the agenda, it’s more likely that the Englishman will get the nod anyway, since he’s usually considered the best of the two in terms of defending.
Lisandro Martinez and Luke Shaw should keep their places on the left flank of the defense, and David de Gea in goal.
Fred didn’t start against Saints, so he needs to be fresh for this match, so we expect him to line up alongside Casemiro in midfield. Scott McTominay is another option.
In attack, everything can be as usual: Anthony, Bruno Fernandes and Marcus Rashford support Wout Weghorst up front.
Jadon Sancho and Facundo Pellistri are other options.
With all that in mind, here’s our XI forecast for tomorrow’s kickoff at 17:45 GMT:
