Real Sociedad 1-1 Man Utd (Oyarzabal P 70′ | Zirkzee 57′)
Ruben Amorim has kept insisting that winning the Europa League this season is not the most important thing for him and his restoration project of epic proportions.
The new coach has a laser focus on his “one way” to play football. What he is missing, however, is what getting back into the Champions League would mean financially to a club reusing tea bags and cutting lunches for staff – or the ones not being made redundant, anyway.
The £100m-plus that a Champions League return would bring is not a just an additional bonus. It is absolutely essential to boosting the transfer kitty, which is down to loose change at the moment.
United are not like rivals Manchester City, who regularly generate hundreds of millions from dispensable squad players. The players who will leave this summer will do so for nothing.
Perhaps Amorim was trying to take the pressure off his besieged strugglers prior to a trip to the Basque Country to face Real Sociedad.
Supporters frequenting the glorious cervecerías and tabernas around the stunning San Sebastian old town certainly had low expectations for the football itself, with many admitting they were making the most of what could well be their final European trip for a few years.
The build-up did feel low key, with Spanish sports newspaper Marca claiming it felt like Southampton were in northern Spain rather than the might of Manchester United, such was the lack of buzz ahead of a knockout European encounter.
In an area famed for the quality of its gastronomy, the first half inside the Anoeta Stadium served up a rather less appetising offering.
The hosts – who came into the encounter having lost three of their previous five matches in all competitions – matched United for wayward passing and lack of imagination, with the only attack of note a blocked effort from Bruno Fernandes, with the rebound flicked just wide from Joshua Zirkzee.
United’s first-half impotence is a growing concern – that is now 20 games in all competitions without a first-half goal for Amorim’s side.
What followed after the break took everyone by surprise. United returned from the interval a different force altogether, one with an attacking intent that has deserted them for far too long.
As is often the case, their finishing woeful finishing and decision-making in the final third let a Sociedad there for the taking off the hook.
United needed a helping hand from a poorly positioned Alex Remiro in the home goal to finally see their endeavour pay off, Zirkzee firing his second goal since mid-December down the middle of Remiro’s goal.
Chances came and went for a second, Alejandro Garnacho twice drilling into the side-netting from a good position as more profligacy set in – all a prerequisite for the inevitable.
From a Sociedad corner that was heading nowhere, Fernandes flung up an arm, an infringement spotted by the VAR, and after consulting the pitchside monitor, the referee pointed to the spot. The European handball rule takes no prisoners.
Mikel Oyarzabal – who broke English hearts in the Euro 2024 final – stepped up to level from 12 yards, with Sociedad’s first shot on target in the entire match.
It would have been typical of United with their penchant for a European collapse to allow the hosts to complete the turnaround.
Orri Oskarsson had Sociedad’s golden chance to add to Amorim’s woes, but the Icelandic substitute fired wide from point-blank range, before Andre Onana bailed the visitors out with a fine stoppage-time save.
“The pressure is going to be on us in our stadium,” Amorim said. “We have to be ready and fresh.
“That is clear, we are creating chances but sometimes you don’t see it in the xG because we manage not to shoot but the great opportunity is there and you can see it. That has to change.”
The performance, for 20 second-half minutes, was much more like it. More of the same, for a prolonged period is required next week to give United the best chance of salvaging another season of woe.
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