Confirmed. This is a season to get excited and dream. La Real has had great football since September and the leadership of the League to fuel their enthusiasm. Since yesterday, also a theater where you can reproduce your dreams. Old Trafford or ‘The Theater of Dreams’ (the theater of dreams) will host on February 25 the second part of the work performed by Real Sociedad and Manchester United in the round of 32 of the Europa League. The Reale Arena will premiere the show on February 18. Bobby Charlton, listed by FIFA as the best English player of all time, said on the day of his last match at Old Trafford – in 1973 – that “all the children of Manchester dream of succeeding in this theater.” La Real also now has the stage where to project the dream of every Gipuzkoan child: to triumph as a txuri-urdin.
There was little suspense for the royalists yesterday’s sober theater act at the Swiss headquarters of UEFA in Nyon. Dark seating area, the long-awaited trophy silhouetted in a contrast of props lights and three well-tied hangers for the solemnity of the occasion. Of the sixteen ballots of the second classified in the group stage that the main actor, Giorgio Marchetti – UEFA’s director of competitions – had to draw, the Real was the third to be discovered. At 1:17 p.m. All the rivals of the group winners’ bass drum could play him except Tottenham and Bruges, which had already left. Naples and Villarreal were also ruled out. The drum roll became long before the clumsiness of the other innocent hand, that of Maniche (former footballer of Porto, Atlético de Madrid and Sporting de Lisboa among others), and finally the fixed camera focused on the most famous of the opponents: Manchester United. Pure history of English football: 20 league titles, 12 FA Cup and 21 English Super Cups, 3 European Cups, a European Super Cup, a European Cup Winners’ Cup, a UEFA Cup, an Intercontinental Cup and a FIFA Club World Cup. It has the largest club football stadium in the UK after Wembley. How many deeds have been written at Old Trafford, Mr. Charlton!
- Ida
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Thursday 18 Hour
- Real Sociedad – M. United
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18. 55 hours
- Red Star – Milan
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18.55
- Dynamo Kiev – Bruges
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18.55
- FK Krasnodar- Dinamo Zagreb
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18.55
- Olympiakos – PSV
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18.55
- Wolfsberger -Tottenham H.
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18.55
- Slavia Prague – Leicester City
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18.55
- Sp. Braga – Rome
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18.55
- Young Boys – Bayer 04 Leverkusen
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18.55
- Salzburg – Villarreal
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21.00
- Granada – Naples
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21.00
- Benfica – Arsenal
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21.00
- Lille – Ajax
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21.00
- Maccabi Tel Aviv – Shakhtar Don.
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21.00
- Molde – TSG Hoffenheim
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21.00
- Royal Antwerp – Rangers
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21. 00
- Return
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Thursday 25
- Ajax-Lille
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18.55
- Arsenal – Benfica
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18.55
- Naples – Granada
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18.55
- Rangers – oyal Antwerp
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18.55
- Shakhtar Don. – Maccabi Tel Aviv
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18.55
- TSG Hoffenheim – Molde
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18.55
- Villarreal – Salzburg
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18.55
- Bayer 04 Leverk. – Young Boys
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18.55
- M. United – R. Society
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21.00
- Bruges – Dynamo Kiev
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21.00
- Dinamo Zagreb – FK Krasnodar
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21.00
- Leicester City – Slavia Prague
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21.00
- Milan – Red Star
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21.00
- PSV – Olympiacos
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21.00
- Roma – Sp. Braga
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21.00
- Tottenham H. – Wolfsberger
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21.00
All the teams that Real could be matched with, all of them, posed a difficult challenge due to quality and strength. But to that difficulty he added the draw the aura of name, prestige and legend. It will be neither more nor less difficult to beat the devils than the rest of the first group, but it will be more special, recognized, stimulating and emotionally comforting.
The vice president of the Real, Mikel Ubarrechena, said it as soon as he heard the news. «They are parties that create epic, that give name. You have to enjoy them. It is a history of European football but we are going to go all out. It will surely be complicated for them too, ”he predicted. This is what they predict on the islands. “Nightmare draw”, a nightmare draw for United, titled The Guardian on its website. “The Royal Society of Adnan Januzaj is flying high in the Spanish league,” warned the Manchester Evening News. The Daily Mirror spoke of “Intriguing” tie.
All the media refer to the precedent of the Champions League in 2013/14, when Real fell 1-0 in Manchester with an own goal by Iñigo Martínez after Rooney’s shot at the post and drew 0-0 at Anoeta. But the tone is different. And the feeling. In Manchester they know that this Real is not like that. In Donostia they perceive that this time, yes, you can win. Ubarrechena recalled that “we have players with experience in the Premier such as Silva, Merino and Monreal – we must add Januzaj, formerly of United – and we face it with enthusiasm. If you want to do something in Europe, you have to leave behind teams like Manchester. We face it with courage and enthusiasm. Last year we also had to play a single game against Real Madrid in the Cup and we passed it ». It is what this Real has: it believes it.
United is not just a legend. Keep in mind. He fell from the Champions League last week to be third in the group after PSG and Leipzig, is eighth in the Premier, one point above City and three points from the fourth, and maintains the block that last year was a finalist in the Europa League, a competition that it won only three years ago.
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