Manchester United will face a two-legged tie against Barcelona in the play-off round of the Uefa Europa League early in 2023, as they try to reach the last 16 of the tournament they won back in 2017.
They will travel to Camp Nou for the first leg, which will take place in mid-February, before hosting the Blaugrana at Old Trafford in the return leg a week later.
Europa League play-off round 2022/23 draw in full
- Manchester United vs Barcelona
- Juventus vs Nantes
- Sporting vs Midtjylland
- Shakhtar Donetsk vs Rennes
- Ajax vs Union Berlin
- Bayer Leverkusen vs Monaco
- Sevilla vs PSV
- Salzburg vs Roma
The Red Devils are taking part in the extra round by virtue of finishing second behind La Liga outfit Real Sociedad in the group stage of the competition, with the six fixtures played in a much shorter timeframe than normal in order to accommodate the mid-season break for the winter running of the Fifa World Cup in Qatar.
United have perennial contenders in the final stages of the Europa League in recent years,
beating Ajax in the final in Stockholm five years ago under the guidance of Jose Mourinho,
before losing the 2021 final on penalties to Villarreal in Gdansk in 2021.
With the format of the competition having been altered for this season,
fellow Premier League club Arsenal are already through to the last 16 after topping their group in the opening round. In previous seasons,
all remaining teams in the Europa League were required to compete in the round-of-32,
but the change was made to allow group winners to progress directly as part of a restructure of European competitions designed to streamline all three Uefa tournaments.
