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Man Utd, Inter favourites for League competition in unique German finale

Monday, August 10th, 2020 00:00 | By
LASK’s Austrian defender Gernot Trauner (left) vies for the ball against Manchester United’s Nigerian striker Odion Ighalo during theirUEFA Europa League last 16 second leg match at Old Trafford in Manchester, on August 5, 2020. Photo/AFP

Paris, Sunday

Manchester United, Inter Milan and Sevilla headline a quintet of former champions travelling to Germany for a remodelled eight-team straight knockout tournament that will crown the winner of a Europa League campaign heavily disrupted by the coronavirus pandemic.

All games from the quarter-finals onwards in this season’s competition will be played behind closed doors as one-off ties across four venues Cologne, Duisburg, Dusseldorf and Gelsenkirchen following a five-month interruption.

While a Champions League berth still awaits the victor of the final in Cologne on August 21, much has changed since the COVID-19 outbreak that brought European football to a standstill in March.

“There are rules and regulations on the bubble that’s going to travel. We’ve got to stick together, stay together in and around the hotel and the training ground,” United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer said of the strict health protocols clubs must respect.

Players and staff will undergo virus testing before departing for Germany and again on the eve of a match once arriving, a process repeated for each subsequent game in the final tournament.

UEFA has advised teams to travel on charter flights and minimise contact with the general public, strongly recommending the use of exclusive hotels to which players will largely be confined in order to avoid potential cross-contamination.

Masks will not be required for substitutes and coaching staff but they must maintain social distancing when seated, with players instructed to limit contact as much as possible when warming up. Match balls will be disinfected before kick-off and at half-time.

United, the 2017 winners, face FC Copenhagen in Monday’s quarter-final in Cologne while Serie A runners-up Inter take on Bayer Leverkusen in a clash of former UEFA Cup champions at Dusseldorf Arena.

England forward Jesse Lingard, who played in United’s 2-0 win over Ajax in the final three years ago, is confident the team can capture the title for a second time.

“We can’t wait to get there and play this game now. 100 per cent I want to win it again,” Lingard told MUTV.

“Lifting a trophy is a special feeling you can’t really explain and winning it before you take that confidence forward.

We have got a mixture of youth and experience in the squad and for the young lads to win their first trophy, it will be perfect for them.”

Should United advance to the last four they would face either Sevilla who have won the Europa League and its precursor, the UEFA Cup, a record five times or Premier League rivals Wolves in Cologne on August 16. - AFP

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