A pivotal week for Ruben Amorim's Man United began in disappointing fashion on Sunday as the FA Cup holders were knocked out in the fifth round by Fulham, losing 4-3 on penalties following a 1-1 draw in 120 minutes at Old Trafford.

The Red Devils are guaranteed to end their domestic campaign trophyless and as they languish 14th in the Premier League table, 13 points behind the top five with 11 games remaining, the pressure is on Amorim and co to deliver Europa League glory if they wish to qualify for next season's Champions League and salvage something positive from what has been a dismal 2024-25 campaign.

While Man United's recent form on the domestic front has been patchy, they are somewhat surprisingly the only remaining Europa League team who are yet to lose in this season's competition after recording three draws and then five consecutive wins in their eight League Phase matches.

Only Galatasaray (19), Lazio and Tottenham Hotspur (both 17) scored more goals in the League Phase than Man United (16), who are averaging 18.8 shots per game in this season's competition - their best ratio in a European campaign since records began in 2003-04.

The Red Devils can travel to San Sebastian hopeful of picking up a positive result on Thursday, as they have lost just one of their last eight European away matches in Spain (W5 D2), although that defeat was in fact their most recent such encounter at Sevilla (3-0) in the second leg of a Europa League quarter-final tie in 2022-23.

Real Sociedad are in the midst of a challenging run of fixtures and they enter Thursday's contest on the back of successive losses to Spanish giants Real Madrid and Barcelona, losing 1-0 at home to the former in the Copa del Rey just five days before being thrashed 4-0 by the latter in La Liga on Sunday.

The 17th-minute dismissal of Aritz Elustondo proved costly, as Barca scored twice in the next 12 minutes before adding a third and a fourth midway through the second half to condemn La Real to their 12th La Liga defeat of the season and their fifth in eight top-flight games in 2025.