MIDTJYLLAND v REAL SOCIEDAD
While Real Sociedad have dipped a touch in recent weeks, winning two of their last seven in La Liga, they should be favourites to progress beyond a Midtjylland (20th) side who only came back from their winter break in late January to conclude the league phase. La Real struggled to begin with in this competition, but took nine points from their last four outings to finish strongly, in 13th, while Valdemar Byskov’s late equaliser against Fenerbahce on matchday eight helped the Danes avoid early elimination.
The scorer of Euro 2024’s winning goal, Mikel Oyarzabal, is the undoubted star man for the Basque club, while Takefusa Kubo is highly rated. However Imanol Aguacil’s side have found scoring difficult this term and may have to rely on their defence, behind midfield metronome Martin Zubimendi, to progress.
Midtjylland are Danish champions and Thomas Thomasberg’s squad combines youthful vigour from across the globe with experienced former Premier League operators in captain Mads Bech Sorensen – once of Brentford – and former Newcastle and Fulham full-back Kevin Mbabu. Midfielder Byskov is a player to look out for, as are attacker Franculino Dju and goalscoring defender Ousmane Diao. The opening leg is at the MCH Arena in Denmark.
First leg: 13 February (17:45 GMT)
Second leg: 20 February (20:00 GMT)