Former days of glory seem to be nothing more than a sweet memory for Manchester United fans. Once a continuous contender in Europe's biggest stages, they now have to settle for playing the UEFA Europa League for the third time in five years. In opening day, they will host Spanish side Real Sociedad in what will be the start of Group E.

The beginning of the 2022/23 seemed like another nightmare for United fans, as they lost their first two games of the Premier League against Brighton and Brentfor, in the latter by a hammering 4-0. But the squad seemed to have made a click since that game as they won their next four games, including huge wins against rivals Liverpool and Arsenal, that had won all their five previous game up to that point.

Under the managament of Erik Ten Hag, United will now try to be a lead actor in the Europa League, a trophy they won in 2016/17 and were runner-ups in 2020/21. And they could not ask for a better rival to make their debut, as they have not lost in their previous four head to head clashes, with two wins and two draws. Even more, they never conceded a goal against them.

Real Sociedad will make their third participation from the last four UEL, which makes them an experienced side in the tournament. Nevertheless, they know that they had a difficult draw against United, as only one of them can qualify for the next round. Playing away in this competition has also not been a guarantee, as they only won one out of their last seven games.

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昔日的辉煌对曼联球迷来说似乎只是一段甜蜜的回忆。他们曾经是欧洲各大赛事的有力争夺者，现在却不得不在五年内第三次参加欧联杯。在开幕日，他们将主场迎战西班牙皇家社会，这将是E组的首发。

对曼联球迷来说，2022/23赛季的开始似乎是另一场噩梦，他们在英超的前两场比赛中分别输给了布莱顿和布伦特福，后者以4比0惨败。但在那场比赛之后，这支球队似乎取得了成功，他们赢得了接下来的四场比赛，包括对对手利物浦和阿森纳的巨大胜利，这两支球队在此前的五场比赛中都取得了胜利。

在埃里克·滕·黑格的执教下，曼联现在将努力成为欧联杯的主角，他们曾在2016/17赛季和2020/21赛季获得欧联杯亚军。在他们的首秀中，没有比他们更好的对手了，因为他们在之前的四次正面交锋中都没有输过，两胜两平。更重要的是，他们从未在比赛中丢过一球。

皇家社会将第三次参加英冠联赛，这将使他们成为一支经验丰富的球队。尽管如此，他们知道他们和曼联的平局很艰难，因为他们中只有一个人可以晋级下一轮。在客场比赛也不能保证，因为他们在过去的7场比赛中只赢了1场。