Manchester United face Danish test after dropping into Europa League

Manchester United’s fall from grace in Europe was put into sharper focus on Monday when they were drawn against minnows Midtjylland in the Europa League and immediately slashed ticket prices for the second leg at Old Trafford in February.

Like United and Porto, two-time defending Europa League champion Sevilla dropped into the second-tier competition after placing third in a Champions League group.

FC Midtjylland were only formed in 1999 – the year of the Reds’ famous Treble triumph – and won the Danish championship for the first time in their history last season.

Augsburg only snook into the draw on the final match day, with a 3-1 win away at Partizan Belgrade securing their place. The club from Bavaria sold Baba Rahman to Chelsea in the summer.

But Augsburg coach Markus Weinzierl was thrilled with the outcome of the draw, regardless of the task that awaits his players. We landed ourselves with a reasonably straight-forwarding looking tie against Bundesliga side Augsburg, but according to a respected German analyst, they will not be a pushover.

The MCH Arena has a capacity of 11,800 and the Danish outfit believe they can sell more than three to four times the tickets if they move the clash to a bigger stadium, which would make more commercial sense. Given that neither Soldado, who scored Vilarreal’s victor against Real Madrid on Sunday, or Salah, who snubbed Fiorentina to join Roma instead in the summer, will be present for the rematch, Mauricio Pochettino will no doubt fancy his chances. Fiorentina remain second in Serie A despite losing to Juventus on Sunday and are Italy’s top scorers with 31 goals from their 16 matches. Once again, this could come down to the finest of margins.