By Ian King
New Beginnings
These two clubs have never played each other before, so it’s a bit of a journey into the unknown for both. Manchester United, of course, are European club football royalty, three times champions of Europe and the first English club to win it all in 1968, these midweek nights under the floodlights are woven into the very fabric of the club.
Viktoria Plzeň, meanwhile, are this season completing the unusual hat-trick of having played in all three of the major European tournaments over the last three consecutive seasons, and last season went all the way to the quarter-finals of the Europa Conference League before losing out in extra-time to Fiorentina.
Recent Form
United were the masters of their own misfortune last weekend against Nottingham Forest, and coupled with the sudden and unexpected departure of Sporting Director Dan Ashworth, they need a win to steady their ship ahead of this weekend’s Manchester derby. As ever, a trip to relatively modest European opponents is an opportunity to shake off some cobwebs, but Manchester United have been in this position more than once in recent years and have failed to do so.
Viktoria are unbeaten in seven games (all comps), and currently sit second in the Czech First League behind runaway leaders Slavia Prague, who’ve only dropped four points all season. Their record in this tournament so far is identical to United’s – three draws followed by two wins – and they’re only one goal behind United in the mega-league, in 13th place. As things stand, both are in the seeded section of the play-off places, but with three games yet to play this could all yet change.
Key players
Pavel Šulc is Viktoria’s top scorer this season with ten goals in all competitions, and given how leaky United’s defence was in their last match he could be a real threat. Also worth keeping an eye on is Prince Kwabena Adu, who was on the Guardian’s Next Generation list in 2020 and arrived at Viktoria in August from the Ukrainian club FC Kryvbas Kryvyi Rih. For Manchester United, Marcus Rashford had looked like he could thrive under Rúben Amorim, though he’s looked a little more anonymous in their last two games.
Team News
It will surprise precisely no-one to learn that Luke Shaw is injured againand with Jonny Evans also missing the Manchester United defence may have something of a patchwork feel to it, although it’s possible that Victor Lindelhof may return. Viktoria will be missing Matej Valenta, Christopher Kabongo, Jan Sykora and Rafiu Durosinmi.
Prediction
United have kept just one clean sheet in the last five, whilst Viktoria Plzeň have kept two in the last nine, and this means that goals could be plentiful in this match. With the firepower that United have at their disposal this might ordinarily be considered a fairly straightforward win, but Viktoria have plenty of European experience and we’ve all seen United fail to finish off modest opposition in recent years. United should still find a way through, but it could be tight; 2-1 to United.
(Cover image from IMAGO)
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