Well, as the luck of the draw goes, Manchester United were given a helping hand in their quest for Europa League success this season. After safely securing their route into the knockout stages of the competition by finishing top of their group ahead of AZ Alkmaar, the Red Devils knew that amongst some potential banana skins, they could expect some relatively straightforward ties.

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And that’s exactly what they got – both in terms of the quality of opponent and the logistics of covering big distances. United have already had to travel a long way to face FC Astana, and then had to play that game on a nightmare of a surface too. So to avoid all that in getting a draw against Belgian outfit Club Brugge, United have been blessed by the footballing gods.

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The Red Devils will feel incredibly confident of making it into the next round thanks to their draw on Monday lunchtime, and it should have a knock-on effect on others matters for Ole Gunnar Solskjaer too. Whilst a couple of wins over Tottenham and Manchester City in the Premier League respectively has lifted the mood, the draw against Everton last weekend showed the side still have a lot of issues to deal with when playing teams outside of the top six.

If United go all-out in their assault of the top-four, then they could risk shooting themselves in the foot. The Premier League is a long and arduous campaign that requires consistency. From what has been seen of United so far, they are incredibly potent in one-off games – just look at their dismantling of both City and Chelsea this season for example. It’s the kind of approach that is best suited to knockout football, and why prioritising the Europa League should be a real point of interest.

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Club Brugge is a tie that has United written all over it in terms of progressing, and that should help to under-line that they would simply be better off by putting all their eggs in the Europa League basket. The footballing gods have given them a gift. It’s time for them to accept it.

Meanwhile, Manchester United fans have slammed this star for his disappointing display against Everton last weekend.