Two greats of Europe for a place in quarters

The Europa League draw has provided a duel for the nostalgic. Manchester United and Milan, two of the biggest teams in the history, will face off in the knockout stages after falling down in recent years. What was once a high flying Champions League showdown between two favorites for the trophy, this season will be between two teams that have stepped forward to try to return to their place.

Of the Gattusso, Pirlo, Shevchenko, Kaka, Seedorf or Maldini there is nothing left in Milan. The same goes for Manchester United, who are far from rubbing shoulders with footballers such as Beckham, Giggs, Ferdinand, Vidic, Cristiano Ronaldo, Rooney or Van Nistelroy. Although, everything is said, is true that these names did and are already history, now there are Bruno Fernandes and Zlatan Ibrahimovic who want to return these teams to their place.

We will have to throw eleven years back to remember the last time that Manchester United and Milan met theirselves. It was in the Champions League, in the round of the last 16, and the English were the ones who smiled in both times. In the first leg, with a 2-3 over Milan at San Siro, and in the second leg, with a scandal win (4-0) at Old Trafford. The goals were scored by none other than Ronaldinho, Seedorf, Scholes, Rooney (4), Park and Fletcher.

In total, Manchester United and Milan have met in ten Champions League games, with five wins and five losses each, since they first played a semi-final in 1958 that fell on the Italian side. We will now see who takes the lead in their first match in the Europa League, that would take place next March 11 in England. Melancholic people feel like it.

Who are the players who wore both shirts?

In total, there are 9 footballers who could represent both Milan and Manchester United. The first were Joe Jordan, and Ray Wilkins, in the 80s. 10 years later it was the turn of Massibo Taibi, Jesper Blomqvist, and Jaap Stam, one of the players with the longest career in Europe. And traveling back in time, from the year 2000 to this part, we have Matteo Darmian and Diogo Dalot, two players who are currently in force, and the eternals Zlatan Ibrahimovic and David Beckam, two icons of sport in the world, as star figures. .