The first leg result means that this tie is almost settled after the 90 minutes in Manchester, where the 4-1 result means that the Red Devils may well be in cruise control as they rock up in Seville. An almost sold-out Villamarín will be welcoming the English side for their first visit to the Betis stadium, though United have failed to win against Spanish opposition in 45% of the arenas they’ve visited.

Betis have been strong at home, with only Real Madrid, Barcelona and Villarreal boasting a higher points per game in their own stadium in LaLiga this season. In the top four race in Spain, Betis are a strong team and the first leg of this tie was their only defeat in their last five matches.

Should United rest and rotate, particularly with an FA Cup quarter-final against Fulham on Sunday, Betis will look to take advantage. They are unlikely to give up on this tie and will be looking to ensure that they emerge with their pride intact, and even a narrow win or draw on the night could yield a strong pay-out.

Manchester United’s number one objective for this game will be to keep things tight defensively and avoid conceding, while looking to kill the game off by hitting Betis on the counter attack. That means that they will likely be looking to keep the score down and should be able to do that.

Betis rank third for underperformance of expected goals in LaLiga, needing 1.21 xG per goal scored this season, and the Premier League side are unlikely to afford so many chances to the Spanish side that they’ll be able to threaten their three-goal lead.

Equally, United could look to rest key attacking players like Marcus Rashford or Bruno Fernandes, who would lead their offensive charge. That means that the game is likely to end without the kind of goalfest that fans were able to witness in Manchester last Thursday.

Real Betis shook up their line-up a great deal for the first leg, confusing many, including some Betis fans. It’s even harder to predict what Manuel Pellegrini will do for the second leg, given that the tie is all but over, but he’ll likely start Luiz Henrique and give most of the match to the young winger, considering he is suspended for the team’s league game this weekend.

Henrique is a very exciting winger and is still very raw in what is his first season in European football, since joining from Fluminense in the summer of 2022. But, he is very direct and is averaging 1.05 shots on target per 90 minutes across all competitions this season, up to 1.24 shots on target per 90 minutes in the Europa League.

He is second-top in the squad, only behind centre-forward Ayoze Pérez, for attempts on target, making him a good pick to cause David de Gea problems on Thursday.

The first leg was a relatively clean game, with 21 fouls committed and just two yellow cards shown, one of those for dissent. Considering this tie is so one-sided at the halfway stage, meaning there is a good chance of this becoming a procession for Manchester United, it would be a surprise for the second leg to produce much more in the way of fouls or bookings.

If Real Betis fail to score multiple early goals, allowing Manchester United to feel that their job is done, then the visiting players should want to avoid entering the referee’s notebook as they know how far they could go in this competition. For example, Casemiro, usually a prime candidate for a card, is one yellow away from suspension this Thursday and, following his red on Sunday, you’d imagine he’d tread a little more carefully.

It’s a Champions League level referee for this game in the form of the Serbian Srdjan Jovanović, and he has been giving out 4.2 total cards per match in UEFA competition this season.