Europa League team news: Man United-Copenhagen and Inter-Leverkusen
The 2019/20 Europa League campaign kicks off another week of European football with Manchester United vs FC Copenhagen and Inter vs Bayer Leverkusen spearheading the quarter-final action on Monday night. All remaining Europa League knockout games are one-off games hosted in netural venues around Germany.
Manchester United vs FC Copenhagen
When is kick off?
Monday 10th August, 20:00 GMT
Where is the match?
RheinEnergieStadion, Cologne (Germany)
Where can I watch it?
BT Sport 1 / BT Sport Extra 1 / BT Sport Ultimate
How they qualified
Manchester United breezed past Austrian side LASK 7-1 on aggregate over the two legs, though the tie was done and dusted back in March when United ran out 5-0 winners away from home. A shock result at Old Trafford was on the cards when LASK went 1-0 up through a Philipp Wiesinger screamer but United were level less than two minutes later through Jesse Lingard, before Anthony Martial came off the bench to score the winner in the dying embers.
FC Copenhagen overturned a first-leg 1-0 defeat away to Istanbul Basaksehir back in March with a comprehensive 3-0 victory last week. The Danish outfit levelled the tie inside four minutes before scoring twice more in the second half to set up a quarter-final encounter with United.
Team News
Manchester United have left Luke Shaw, Axel Tuanzebe and Phil Jones back in Manchester to continue their recovery from injury, though only the former would have been considered to start. Only Sergio Romero, Harry Maguire and Brandon Williams are expected to keep their place in the starting XI from last week's 2-1 win over LASK, with the likes of Bruno Fernandes, Paul Pogba, Anthony Martial and Marcus Rashford among the United regulars to return after a rest.
FC Copenhagen welcome back first-choice striker Michael Santos back from suspension and he is expected to replace 19-year-old Mikkel Kaufmann up front for the Danish side. 21-year-old attacker Jonas Wind is the one to watch for FC Copenhagen after he netted a brace in last week's 3-0 win over Istanbul Basaksehir, while former United right-back Guillermo Varella will be itching to face his old club.
Probable XIs:
Man Utd (4231): Romero; Wan-Bissaka, Lindelof, Maguire, Williams; Matic, Pogba; Greenwood, Fernandes, Rashford; Martial
FC Copenhagen (4231: Johnsson; Varela, Nelsson, Bjelland, Boilesen; Zeca, Mudrazija; Biel, Wind, Jensen; Santos
When is kick off?
Monday 10th August, 20:00 GMT
Where is the match?
Merkur Spiel-Arena, Dusseldorf (Germany)
Where can I watch it?
BT Sport 2
How they qualified
Inter's round of 16 first-leg meeting with Getafe in March was postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic so Antonio Conte's side were forced to take on the Spanish outfit in a straight shoot-out for a place in the last eight. Inter scored in either half to win 2-0, though they survived a scare when substitute Jorge Molina missed a penalty in the second half with Getafe only a goal down.
Unlike Inter, Bayer Leverkusen completed their round of 16 victory over Rangers over two legs. After a 3-1 win away to Rangers back in March, the Bundesliga outfit followed that up with a fairly comfortable 1-0 victory on home soil last week. Moussa Diaby scored the match winner shortly after half time.
Team News
Inter have Alexis Sanchez available for the remainder of their Europa League campaign after completing a permanent deal from Manchester United at the end of last week. The 31-year-old is expected to start on the bench, however, with Romelu Lukaku and Lautaro Martinez preferred. January signing Christian Eriksen may also have to settle for a back-up role despite coming off the bench and scoring against Getafe last week. Nicolo Barella is favourite to start in midfield over the ex-Tottenham ace. There will also be no starting berth for centre-back Milan Skriniar, who is linked with a move to Tottenham.
Bayer Leverkusen handed 17-year-old Florian Wirtz his European debut in last week's 1-0 win over Rangers in a surprise move from head coach Peter Bosz. The teen is expected to drop out of the side here, however, with Chelsea target Kai Havertz moving centrally and Leon Bailey coming in on the wing. Kerem Demirbay is available again after completing a one-match suspension but now the German side have lost Charles Aranguiz to a ban. Bosz also has to decide whether to recall Jonathan Tah in defence or stick with Sven Bender at centre-back.
Probable XIs
Inter (352): Handanovic; Godin, De Vrij, Bastoni; D'Ambrosio, Barella, Brozovic, Gagliardini, Young; Martinez, Lukaku
Leverkusen (4231): Hradecky; L. Bender, S. Bender, Tapsoba, Wendell; Demirbay, Palacios; Diaby, Havertz, Bailey; Volland
Key Battle - Alessandro Bastoni vs Edmond Tapsoba
There will certainly be plenty of star appeal on display when Inter face Bayer Leverkusen on Monday night and it's a shame one of these two teams will be eliminated before the last four of the competition. Lautaro Martinez and Kai Havertz have both been linked with blockbuster moves to Barcelona and Chelsea, respectively, while Romelu Lukaku is at the peak of his powers in his first season at Inter. However, there are also two young, less-spoken of centre-backs that are worth keeping an eye on: Alessandro Bastoni in Inter's back three and Edmond Tapsoba at the heart of Leverkusen's defence.
Bastoni, who was signed from Atalanta in 2017, has been a revelation for Inter this season to the point where Inter are now willing to let one of Diego Godin or Milan Skriniar leave this summer. The Italy Under-21 international has an impressive tackle success rate of 76.7% in league and European competition this season and will play a role in suppressing Leverkusen's attackers.
At the other end of the pitch is Tapsoba, a January recruit from Portuguese side Vitoria de Guimaraes. Also 21, Tapsoba has been immense since his arrival and made an immediate impact for Peter Bosz's side. He didn't end on the losing side in his first 11 appearances for the club in all competitions and heads into this match on form after claiming the WhoScored Man of the Match award in their 1-0 victory over Rangers last week. His role on Monday will be to stem the flow of balls into Romelu Lukaku and disrupting his partnership with Lautaro Martinez.
