Sports Blog 13/03/2018: UEFA Champions League Last 16 2nd Leg Preview – Manchester United vs Sevilla, Tuesday 13th March 2018

Will Man United stop Sevilla in their tracks when they host the Spaniards at 7.45pm on BT Sport 2?

Their Premier League hopes may be dead and buried – they’re 16 points adrift of effective champions-elect Man City – but United have picked up some damn good results of late. They bounced back from their mid-February embarrassment against Newcastle with a hard-fought victory over Chelsea; and while it took a 91st minute winner to beat Crystal Palace, they went on to beat Liverpool 2-0 to open up a 5 point gap between them and their Scouse rivals.



And that’s not to mention their unhindered – if, admittedly, not particularly challenging – progress through the FA Cup, with a winnable quarter-final against Brighton looming this weekend.

That period has seen a rejuvenated Romelu Lukaku, with the Belgian’s season-tally climbing to 23 goals in all competitions, leaving him with a Super Mega PGM of 45-52. Marcus Rashford even made a case for his inclusion last weekend, his game-winning brace against Liverpool giving him a Super Mega PGM of 28-33.

For all this good work domestically, however, United aren’t in quite such a plumb position in the Champions League. They came away from Spain without a potentially crucial away goal, just about giving Sevilla the edge heading into the 2nd leg. Luckily for Mourinho and co. the 5-time Europe League champions have been all over the place this season.

Though they may sit in a respectable 5th in La Liga, Sevilla are 11 points shy of 4th place Valencia and an absurd 27 points off leaders Barcelona. On top of this they’re the only side in the league’s top 7 to have a negative goal difference, the sloppiness of their defence also causing them to concede 12 goals in 6 games in the Champions League group stages.

Given how ropey the Spaniards are at the back, United should feel comfortable about proceeding to the quarter-finals, with Spreadex offering a Man United/Sevilla Goal Supremacy spread of 1-1.2 alongside a Total Goals spread of 2.75-2.95.