Manchester United vs RB Leipzig Tickets

Manchester United continue to push towards the heights they reached under Sir Alex Ferguson, and part of that ongoing endeavour is their involvement in the UEFA Champions League, a trophy the Scottish boss won twice.

Erik ten Hag secured a return to the competition after his side finished in the top four of the Premier League in 2022/23, the Dutch manager’s first campaign in charge at Old Trafford, and the former Ajax boss also won the Carabao Cup to boot.

Manchester United’s three wins in the European Cup/UEFA Champions League came with fairly lengthy periods of relative failure. 1967/68 saw the team become the first English side to win the competition when they beat Benfica 4-1 in extra time at Wembley Stadium.

The following season, they reached the Semi-Finals before losing to AC Milan and then spent the next 25 years chasing a seat back at the top table of European football. That was achieved when Ferguson guided the club to their first domestic title in over two decades in 1992/93.

Their first involvement in the then newly formed UEFA Champions League was brief, with Manchester United losing to Galatasaray on away goals in the Second Round in 1993/94.

1996/97 saw them make their first deeper foray into the tournament before they were dumped out in the Semi-Finals against Borussia Dortmund, who went on to defeat Juventus in the final.

1998/99 spelled the end of their title drought and in quite some style. They were drawn with Bayern Munich, FC Barcelona, and Brondby in the group phase and edged through to the Quarter-Final on the basis of being one of the best runners-up (beating out their Catalan rivals).

They then showed great determination and guile to knock out first Inter Milan and then Juventus to set up a showstopper with Bayern Munich in Barcelona. They were behind early on to an early Mario Basler goal and were lucky not to concede again, with Ottmar Hitzfeld’s side having plenty of chances to clinch the game.

Then Ferguson threw on both Teddy Sheringham and then set Ole Gunnar Solskjaer as subs, and in injury time, both players netted to shock Bayern Munich. It had taken more than 30 years, but Manchester United had collected a second European Cup/UEFA Champions League success.

They only had to wait another nine years to get a third, this time at the hands of Chelsea in Moscow, and they continue to chase such heady heights. In truth, since Ferguson’s departure, they haven’t even come close to doing so, but that does not deter the club’s massive loyal fanbase from dreaming big.

For a team in its relative infancy, having been formed in 2009, RB Leipzig are already very mature in terms of their European achievements.

2017/18 was their first UEFA Champions League run, and though they failed to make it through their group phase, they did then go on to reach the Quarter-Finals of the UEFA Europa League that season.

2019/20 saw RB Leipzig battle all the way to the Semi-Finals of the UEFA Champions League, beating both Tottenham Hotspur and Atletico Madrid in the knockout stages before losing to PSG.

They made it to the UEFA Europa League Semi-Finals in 2021/22 before they were downed by Scottish side Rangers.

2022/23 saw them bump back to earth in rather spectacular fashion. Coach Marco Rose helped his side to qualify from their group stage, picking up four wins from six, including a marvelous 3-2 success over Real Madrid.

They then took on Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City and picked up a credible draw at the Red Bull Arena, with defender Josko Gvardiol netting for the German side (before going on to move to the Etihad Stadium).

In the return leg, Guardiola’s side gave Leipzig a footballing lesson. Erling Haaland netted five times, while Ilkay Gundogan and Kevin De Bruyne also scored in an emphatic 7-0 success, and they did, of course, go on to complete a memorable treble by beating Inter Milan in the final.

Manchester United vs RB Leipzig Head-to-Head

Manchester United and RB Leipzig have met in one previous European campaign in the 2020/21 UEFA Champions League group stage. In October, a Marcus Rashford hat-trick and efforts from Mason Greenwood and Anthony Martial gave the home side a thumping 5-0 win.

In the return fixture, it was RB Leipzig who had the upper hand, winning 3-2.

Manchester United vs RB Leipzig Connections

In terms of individuals who have represented both clubs, one such example comes in the form of Ralf Rangnick. The German manager spent two years in charge of RB Leipzig, spread out over two seasons, during which he helped the club to promotion to the Bundesliga in 2015/16.

In his second spell, in 2018/19, he led the team to a third-place finish in the German top tier as well as taking them to the DFB Pokal final, where they lost to Bayern Munich in Berlin.

Somewhat surprisingly, Rangnick was appointed manager of Manchester United in November 2021, albeit on an interim basis. The team struggled under his guidance, winning just 11 of the 31 games he was in charge. He then went on to manage the Austrian national team.