Manchester United vs Zorya Luhansk Europa League Preview

Manchester United vs Zorya Luhansk might very well be
the biggest match in the history of the Ukrainian club,
since the club won the Soviet Vysshaya Liga title back
in 1972 (read all about Zorya Luhansk in our exclusive
Europa League preview here).

The league title in 1972 meant that Zorya, which was
competing as Zorya Voroshilovgrad at the time of the
USSR, competed in the 1973 European Cup where
Spartak Trnava eliminated them in the round of 16.
Since then, Zorya have not made any major inroads in
any European competition, and the club now competes
for the first time in the group stage of the Europa
League. Hence, the match against Manchester United on
Thursday will be their first encounter against an English
club.

Manchester United have, however, played Ukrainian
teams on six occasions, and have won four matches and
tied two. Furthermore, the club from Manchester has
won all three matches against Ukrainian teams when
playing at home at Old Trafford.

For Luhansk, however, the contest will be about much
more than just a football match. Like their compatriots,
Shakhtar Donetsk, Zorya have been forced into exile due
to the continued fighting in the Donbass.

Today the city of Luhansk is the capital of the
internationally unrecognized Luhansk People’s Republic
which, together with the Donetsk People’s Republic,
forms the so-called Confederation of Novorossiya. As a
result Zorya Luhansk cannot play their home matches in
their nominal home stadium— a fact that must have
completely escaped the front staff at Manchester United
—and instead are forced to play in the Ukrainian port
city of Odessa (you can read more about this here).

Given the difficult circumstances in which Zorya have
found themselves, it is a minor miracle that the club
have directly qualified for the group stage of the UEFA
Europa League.

In fact, the club continues its strong showing under talented head coach, Yuriy Vernydub, and is currently ranked second behind Shakhtar Donetsk in the Ukrainian Premier League table.

Despite this, Zorya will be very much the outsiders at
Old Trafford on Thursday. The club, however, is a vivid
reminder of a conflict that has escaped the hearts and
minds of Western Europeans and, for this reason, the
match in Manchester will be much more than just about
football.

Possible Line-ups

Manchester United:

Formation: 4-2-3-1

Sergio Romero – Blind, Bailly, Smalling, Valencia –
Herrera, Pogba – Lingard, Rooney, Rashford –
Ibrahimović

Manager: José Mourinho


Zorya Luhansk:

Formation: 4-2-3-1

Shevchenko – Sukhotsky, Sivakov, Checher, Kamenyuka
– Grechyshkin, Gordienko – Petryak, Ljubenović,
Karavaev – Paulinho

Manager: Yuri Vernydub

Zlatan Ibrahimovic to miss Manchester United's clash with Zorya Luhansk after being granted holiday

Zlatan Ibrahimovic is set to miss Manchester United’s Europa League game this week after the striker was granted a holiday by Jose Mourinho. The former Sweden striker, 34, is in Milan after Mourinho hailed his performance in the 4-1 weekend win over Leicester as “phenomenal”.
Ibrahimovic travelled to Italy on Monday where he dined at the Finger’s Garden restaurant - co-owned by former AC Milan team-mate Clarence Seedorf - during the evening.
Mourinho, who was spotted leaving the Lowry Hotel on Tuesday morning before holding training at United’s Carrington training HQ, will be boosted by the return of Henrikh Mkhitaryan.

Ok

predictions: man u4-0z, man u2-0z, man u3-1z and man u3-0z

GGMU

Man utd baby

SlaughterGang:
FVCK Mourinho...I hope we win

Trust me... We would

Kossyablaze and McBrooklyn wats gon be the scoreline?

glory glory United. I need an aggressive and confident showing today.
good football

seydam21:
Zlatan Ibrahimovic to miss Manchester United's clash with Zorya Luhansk after being granted holiday

na so

Mou!

Who talk so?

seydam21:
Zlatan Ibrahimovic to miss Manchester United's clash with Zorya Luhansk after being granted holiday

GGMU......

Prediction
Utd 5 - 1 Zorya

Go united no pity bcus of their story ok,match them well,POGBA 2 goalz

Rooney should play bench. That's his best position

10-0

man u

Man Utd XI: Romero, Fosu-Mensa, Bailly, Smalling, Rojo, Pogba, Fellaini, Lingard, Mata, Rashford, Ibrahimovic #MUFC

SlaughterGang:


I am not that confident, our squad lacks depth...Rubbish bench players.

Be confident... Just believe

McBrooklyn:


Lol, I cannot officially tell you the scoreline now but it's going to be made know by MOU my Oga at the top



But you should be expecting nothing less than 3 - 0

lol I believe u

Team united...
4 nil..

McBrooklyn:


Bruh, where you here this one wey you dey yarn now??




This is from the official @manchesterunited Instagram account

the guy must av bn smoking. Not all on NL are sane u knw?