A pin drop could be heard at Old Trafford tonight as a minute’s silence was observed following the sad news that Queen Elizabeth II had died.
The stands were not as full as usual and the players wore black armbands as they paid homage to His Majesty.
United’s Europa League campaign kicked off and it was Malacia who got his first chance after two minutes, but his long shot was well blocked.
It was a close contest, rudimentary play in the first ten minutes.
A quarter of an hour passed and another opportunity arose for United. Antony played a beautiful through ball to Ronaldo, but he was offside.
It looked like Fred could make it through as he had two attempts to put the hosts ahead in the first half, but both shots were blocked.
For his part, Antony, who scored for the Reds on his Premier League debut, also had a great chance but his shot from high angle was well parried.
Not everything was United, Real Sociedad had their chances but Méndez’s shot went wide.
Real Sociedad began to get into the game at the end of the first half but both teams went to the locker room goalless.
Not long after the reset, the intensity increased. Sociedad were exploiting United’s weak areas and entering the area well.
MartÃnez put it with his hand in the area and it was a penalty for Sociedad. It was questionable though, as the ball seemed to hit his body and then his hand, but VAR took a look and it was still a penalty.
Mendez walked over and placed it in the bottom right corner.
United had a fight on their hands!
They responded well with chances from Casemiro, Malacia and Ronaldo but Sociedad defended well.
Ten Hag saw it as an opportunity to see how his youngsters would fare and made several substitutions, but they were unable to make a difference and it ended 1-0.
It’s not how Ten Hag would have liked to start his Europa League campaign.
Team: De Gea, Lindelof, Maguire, Ronaldo, Malaysia (McNeill), Eriksen (Fernandes), Fred, Casemiro, Dalot (Martinez), Antony (Sancho), Elanga (Garnacho)
