Europa League announced the Round of 16 draws on Friday. Manchester United have been drawn with Linzer Athletik-Sport-Klub, or simply, LASK. The hitherto unknown Austrian club has been drawing people's attention after drawing with the Manchester club.
You will be surprised to know that LASK, one of the oldest clubs in Austrian football, is on its course to win their second Austrian Bundesliga title. As things stand, the team is at the top of the table with 48 points, three points above last year's champions Salzburg. The last time the club had won the title was in 1965.
Founded in 1908, the 111-year-old club has not seen much success in the Austrian league but has oftentimes been seen in the UEFA Cup, now known as the UEFA Europa League. In the 2018-19 season of the Europa, the club made its comeback to European football after a gap of almost 20 years.
That season, they managed to defeat Lillestrom SK in the second qualifying round but were later knocked out by Besiktas in the third round. This defeat did not stop them as they managed to qualify for the 2019/20 UEFA Champions League season.
Unfortunately, they couldn't go far in the Champions League as they were knocked out by Club Brugge. They were now in the Europa League, where they impressed everyone by coming first in a tough group consisting of Sporting CP, PSV Eindhoven and Rosenborg. They then managed to dump out AZ Alkmaar in the Round of 32 and are now drawn with England's legendary club, Manchester United.
LASK are on a terrific run at the moment, having lost just three matches since the start of September 2019 and remain unbeaten in their last five matches.
Will they be able to grind out a good result against the Red Devils? Who knows? But one thing's for sure, it will be a good David vs Goliath show on the cards when both clubs face each other on March 12. Coincidentally, this is the first time that LASK will face an English club in their 111-year history.
Here are all the draws for the UEFA Europa League Round of 16.
Istanbul Basaksehir vs FC Copenhagen
Olympiakos vs Wolves
Rangers vs Bayer Leverkusen
Wolfsburg vs Shakhtar
Inter vs Getafe
Sevilla vs Roma
Frankfurt/Salzburg vs Basel
LASK vs Manchester United
Twitter had a field after the Manchester United-LASK draw was announced.
In the second leg of last-32 tie, Manchester United crushed Club Brugge 5-0 at Old Trafford to book their place in the Round-of-16. Winning 6-1 on aggregate, it were the new signings who shone in the game.