Madrid - Saba:
The Spanish team Real Sociedad will host its counterpart Manchester United tomorrow, Thursday, in the first leg of the round of 16 of the European Football League.
Real Sociedad finished the league stage in thirteenth place, so it had to play a play-off match to qualify for the round of 16, and that match came against Danish Midtjylland, but the Spanish team achieved a great victory over its competitor with a score of 3/7 on aggregate, as it won the first leg in Denmark 1/2 and outperformed with a score of 2/5 in the return match on its home ground.
In contrast, Manchester United, who previously won the championship once in 2017, came in third in the league standings, although doubts surround the extent of the team's development under the leadership of its Portuguese coach Ruben Amorim, as he has not succeeded in improving the results of the team, which currently occupies fourteenth place in the English Premier League with 33 points, and was also eliminated from the FA Cup by Fulham a few days ago.
The two teams have previously met in six matches, including two matches in the group stage of the Champions League in the 2013/2014 season, and four matches in the European League.
Manchester United succeeded in winning three times against Sociedad, and the two teams tied in two matches, while Sociedad achieved a single victory that came on the English team's land in their meeting last season in the group stage of the European League.
Another English team will be the focus of attention, Tottenham, who will face their host, Dutch side AZ Alkmaar, at their home stadium.
Tottenham's circumstances are no different from those of their compatriot Manchester United, as they are only one place ahead of them in the English Premier League standings and on goal difference only.
Tottenham are armed with their experience in facing their Dutch counterpart, and the two teams met in the league stage, and Tottenham won at home by a clean goal, and also finished the same stage in fourth place, while Alkmaar needed to play two matches in the round of 16 play-off against Galatasaray of Turkey after finishing the league stage in nineteenth place, and Alkmaar won against Galatasaray 1/4 in the first leg, and tied with them 2/2 in the second leg, to qualify for the round of 16 with a 3/6 aggregate win.
Ajax of the Netherlands hopes to take advantage of their local awakening and maintain their lead in their country's league standings, when they face Eintracht Frankfurt, who finished the league stage in fifth place, and are third in the German league, but have suffered a decline in their results recently.
Frankfurt suffered a 4-0 defeat twice in their last two matches, as they lost to Bayern Munich 1-4, and also lost 4-0 to Bayer Leverkusen, but without scoring any goals. On the other hand, Ajax shines and leads the Dutch league standings with 60 points, eight points ahead of the title holders, Eindhoven.
Ajax had finished twelfth in the league standings, and will face Belgian Union Saint-Gilloise, winning the first leg 2-0, before the second leg comes with a ticket to the round of 16 despite the 1-2 defeat.
In the remaining matches, Roma hopes to capitalize on their domestic form when they host Spanish side Athletic Bilbao, while their compatriot Lazio plays away to Czech side Viktoria Plzen, French side Lyon visit Romanian side Steaua Bucharest, Turkish side Fenerbahce host Scottish side Rangers, and Greek side Olympiacos visit Norwegian side Bodo Glimt.