UEL: Avoid them – Owen Hargreaves picks team Man United shouldn’t meet in play-off

Manchester United and Bayern Munich’s former midfielder, Owen Hargreaves has warned the Red Devils there is no easy fixture in their Europa League play-off.

Ajax, Juventus and Barcelona are among the teams Manchester United could face in the play-off in February.

These are the teams that finished third from their various Champions League groups and would face the teams that came second from the Europa League.

United needed to beat Real Sociedad with at least two unreplied goals to finish top of Group E, but could score just once on Thursday night, thanks to Gamacho’s first half strike.

“I’m not like Scholesey, I hope they avoid Barca,” Hargreaves told BT Sport.

“Get Barca in the final, don’t want to play Barca because that could be a really hard game.

“But they’re all really good sides, good footballing sides, with good managers.”