Manchester United vs LASK Europa League preview: where to watch, team news

LASK travel to Manchester in the UEFA Europa League round of 16 on 5 August at 21:00 CET. This page will update with team news, quotes and expert analysis as kick-off approaches.

Where to watch the game on TV

Fans can find their local UEFA Europa League broadcast partner(s) here.

The teams

Manchester United (ENG)
UEFA ranking: 9 (1)
Domestic position: 3 (final match: 26 July)
How they got here: Group L winners, 6-1 Club Brugge
Last season: UEFA Champions League quarter-finals (lost 4-0 v Barcelona)
Previous UEFA Cup/Europa League best: winners (2016/17)

LASK (AUT)
UEFA ranking: 103 (16)
Domestic position: 4 (final match: 5 July)
How they got here: Group D winners, 3-1 AZ Alkmaar
Last season: third qualifying round (lost on away goals v Beşiktaş after 2-2 draw)
Previous UEFA Cup/Europa League best: round of 32 (1984/85, 1985/86)

Possible line-ups

Manchester United: Romero; Dalot, Maguire, Bailly, Williams; McTominay, Fred; Mata, Lingard, James; Ighalo
Out: Jones (unknown)
Misses next match if booked: none
Players added to squad: none
Players removed from squad: Angel Gomes, Matěj Kovář, Dylan Levitt, Luke Shaw, Axel Tuanzebe

LASK: Schlager; Andrade, Wiesinger, Trauner; Ranftl, Michorl, Holland, Renner; Frieser, Raguz, Balić
Out: none
Misses next match if booked: Ranftl, Renner, Trauner, Wiesinger
Players added to squad: Andrés Andrade, Jan Boller, David Schnegg
Players removed from squad: Thomas Goiginger, João Klauss, Marvin Potzmann, Samuel Tetteh

Reporter's view

No team has ever overturned a five-goal first-leg deficit and it would be one of European football's all-time greatest upsets should LASK become the first, at Old Trafford no less. United are buoyant after finishing third in the Premier League and have been brimming with goals since the restart. Their visitors, on the other hand, endured a horrid run of form after the Austrian top flight resumed.
Tom Kell 

What the coaches say

Ole Gunnar Solskjær, United manager: "We know that it will be a difficult game. It wasn't a 5-0 game [in the first leg]. We scored three goals in the last five, so of course we know that we have to perform. There's opportunities for players [who do well in this game] to play in the quarters if we get through."

Dominik Thalhammer, LASK coach: “We are not thinking about the result. We are looking to improve. Playing against teams like this, playing games like this in this stadium – that’s great.”

Previous meetings

• LASK's first UEFA encounter against an English club turned out to be a painful experience as they were overwhelmed by their illustrious visitors, United scoring five times without reply, including twice in added time, to claim their biggest away win in the UEFA Cup/UEFA Europa League and inflict a heaviest European home defeat on their hosts. Odion Ighalo supplied a sumptuous first-half strike, before Daniel James, Juan Mata, Mason Greenwood and – with the last kick of the game – Andreas Pereira added further goals in the second period.

• United are undefeated in their nine matches against Austrian clubs (W8 D1) and have won all four matches at home, scoring ten goals and conceding just one. The most recent victory came in the second group stage of the 2000/01 UEFA Champions League when they won 3-0 against Sturm Graz.

Form guide

Manchester United
• The three-time champions of Europe finished sixth in the 2018/19 Premier League, which meant direct access to the UEFA Europa League. They were quarter-finalists in last season's UEFA Champions League, going out to Barcelona (0-1 h, 0-3 a) after a remarkable round of 16 second-leg comeback against Paris Saint-Germain (0-2 h, 3-1 a).

• United kept clean sheets in their first four UEFA Europa League group fixtures this term, securing qualification with two games to spare after doing the double over Partizan (1-0 a, 3-0 h). Although they lost 2-1 at Astana, ending the club's 15-match unbeaten run in the competition, United signed off in style with a 4-0 home win against AZ that secured top spot in Group L. At the time that was the club's joint biggest victory in the UEFA Cup/UEFA Europa League, but they trumped that in the round of 32 second leg with their 5-0 defeat of Club Brugge – a result matched last time out in Linz.

• The Manchester giants have appeared in the UEFA Europa League round of 16 three times previously but have won only one of those ties, against Rostov (1-1 a, 1-0 h) in 2016/17 en route to lifting the trophy. The two defeats came before that, against Athletic Club (2-3 h, 1-2 a) in 2011/12 and domestic arch rivals Liverpool (0-2 a, 1-1 h) in 2015/16.

• The Red Devils are unbeaten in their last 13 UEFA Europa League home games (W11 D2), registering four wins out of four at Old Trafford this season and scoring 13 goals while conceding none. Their last three European home games have finished 3-0, 4-0 and 5-0.

• United have been successful in all 17 UEFA ties in which they won the first leg away, most recently in the 2016/17 UEFA Europa League semi-final against Celta Vigo (1-0 a, 1-1 h). They have never previously won the away first leg 5-0.

LASK
• Runners-up to Salzburg in the 2018/19 Austrian Bundesliga, LASK also took part in UEFA competition for the first time since 2000 but were eliminated on away goals by Beşiktaş in the UEFA Europa League third qualifying round.

• LASK began this season's European journey in the UEFA Champions League third qualifying round, where they beat Basel (2-1 a, 3-1 h) before losing to Club Brugge (0-1 h, 1-2 a). That meant a first ever participation in the UEFA Europa League group stage, where they thrived, winning all three home games, registering 13 points and topping a group containing three European stalwarts in Sporting CP, PSV Eindhoven and Rosenborg.

• This is LASK's first taste of post-Christmas European football. Their previous best seasons in continental competition were 1984/85 and 1985/86, when they reached the second round of the UEFA Cup.

• The Linz club have won three and lost three of their last eight European away games and are unbeaten in the last three (W1 D2).

• There have been four previous instances of LASK losing the first leg of a UEFA tie at home, and on each occasion they have been eliminated after also losing the second leg, most recently in this season's UEFA Champions League play-off against Club Brugge.

Links & trivia

• Manchester United's January signing Bruno Fernandes scored the winning goal for Sporting in their 2-1 home victory against LASK on Matchday 2. The Portuguese international is the joint leading scorer in this season's UEFA Europa League, group stage to final with six goals, including one for United, a penalty, that opened the scoring in the 5-0 win against Club Brugge.

• Sergio Romero (Manchester United) and James Holland (LASK) were at AZ together in 2009/10, though the latter played no competitive matches for the club.

• LASK were one of six clubs to make their UEFA Europa League group stage debut in 2019/20, and are one of just two, along with Wolverhampton Wanderers, to have made it through to the round of 16.

• Manchester United are one of two former UEFA Europa League winners in this season's round of 16, along with three-time champions Sevilla.

• United ended the 2019/20 Premier League season in third place, a closing run of 14 games without defeat enabling them to qualify for the UEFA Champions League group stage.

• LASK lost six of their last ten Bundesliga matches in 2019/20, dropping from first place to fourth, which puts them in the qualifying rounds of the 2020/21 UEFA Europa League.

• In July LASK replaced French coach Valérien Ismaël with Dominik Thalhammer, who returned to men's football after more than nine years as head coach of the Austrian women's national team.

Penalty shoot-outs
• Manchester United's record in three UEFA penalty shoot-outs is W1 L2:
4-5 v Videoton, 1984/85 UEFA Cup quarter-final
3-4 v Torpedo Moskva, 1992/93 UEFA Cup first round
6-5 v Chelsea, 2007/08 UEFA Champions League final

• LASK have yet to feature in a UEFA penalty shoot-out.