Man United gets Europa League group with Silva’s Sociedad

GENEVA: Manchester United will start another season in the Europa League in a group with Real Sociedad, Sheriff and Omonoia after the draw was made Friday. Man United, which won the Europa League in 2017 and were the beaten finalist two years ago, entered the second-tier competition by placing just sixth in the Premier League last season. It was unclear Friday if Cristiano Ronaldo will still be at the club for the first round of games on Sept.

8 with more speculation linking him to a move from Old Trafford, this time with Napoli which are in the Champions League. On Thursday, Napoli were drawn in the same group as Liverpool. The draw brings United face-to-face again with long-time Manchester City favorite David Silva, who returned to Spain to play for Sociedad, and involves two of the longest journeys to away games in the draw – to Moldova and Cyprus.

The Russian war on Ukraine has affected Man United’s trip to face Sheriff, which have been playing European home games in Chisinau instead of their home city Tiraspol. Tiraspol is in the Russian-supporting breakaway region of Transnistria which borders Ukraine. UEFA decided in June to block Sheriff playing in Tiraspol citing “the large-scale military escalation resulting in the invasion of the Ukrainian territory by the Russian army.” Russian teams are also currently banned from all UEFA competitions.

Dynamo Kyiv of Ukraine – which will play their home games in neighboring Poland – will face Rennes, Fenerbahçe and AEK Larnaca. Arsenal’s fifth Europa League campaign in six seasons will be in a group with PSV Eindhoven — coached by former United striker Ruud van Nistelrooy — Bodø/Glimt and Zürich. Roma coach Jose Mourinho is back in the competition he won with Man United