Update: |The best and worst-case scenarios for Manchester United to win the Europa League News

Man United will resume their Europa League campaign with the first leg of their quarter-final tie against Lyon on Thursday night.

Manchester United will be hoping to put one foot in the semi-finals of the Europa League when they face Lyon in the first leg of their quarter-final showdown on Thursday evening.

United will travel to the Parc Olympique Lyonnais with the ambition of putting themselves in as strong a position as possible ahead of the return leg at Old Trafford seven days later.

Winning the Europa League is United’s main objective between now and the end of the season, with the dangling carrot of Champions League qualification for next season an added incentive for winning the competition. United need as many revenue streams as possible ahead of next season and competing in the Champions League would certainly strengthen their financial position.

United are arguably the biggest jewel in the Europa League’s crown ahead of the quarter-final stage, meaning they are likely to be under more pressure than any of their seven counterparts to win the competition.

With that said, MEN Sport has taken a look at the best and worst-case scenarios United could experience to win their first European trophy since 2017.

Best-case scenario

With the draws for both the quarter-finals and the semi-finals being made at the same time of the round-of-16 draw back in February, United have long since known their route to the final in Bilbao in May. Ahead of comfortably dispatching of Real Sociedad in the last round, United knew they would face either Lyon or FCSB at the quarter-final stage.

Lyon made light work of FCSB, winning 7-1 on aggregate to progress to the last-eight without breaking sweat. Lyon are currently fifth in Ligue 1, having won half of their 28 league games this season.

United, though, will be expected to get the better of the French club over two legs and reach the semi-finals, where they will face either Rangers or Athletic Bilbao. The first leg of their quarter-final is at Ibrox on Thursday night.

Bilbao are favourites to get the better of the Scottish side, meaning they are likely to be United’s opponent in the semi-final should Ruben Amorim’s men get the job done against Lyon. Currently fourth in La Liga and blessed with an attack that contains Nico Williams, who lit up the European Championship last summer, Bilbao would, with respect, pose a much sterner test than Rangers would.

Furthermore, the prospect of a semi-final appearance for Bilbao will give them even more motivation to reach the final given it is going to be held in their own stadium.

With that in mind, a semi-final tussle with Rangers, who have already been beaten at Old Trafford this season, would probably favour United.

In the event of United beating Lyon and then either Bilbao or Rangers to reach the final, they will face one of Bodo/Glimt, Lazio, Eintracht Frankfurt or Tottenham Hotspur in the final. Bodo/Glimt, who were beaten 3-2 at Old Trafford back in November, are considered as the outsiders on that side of the draw and the prospect of them making the final would be an underdog story.

Facing the Norwegian side in the final would give United, with respect, their best chance of winning the competition.

Worst-case scenario

We should all be wise enough by now to realise that football is not played on paper and it rarely goes according to the script, meaning anything could happen between Thursday night and the final on May 21.

Nevertheless, looking at the situation hypothetically for a few minutes, most people will anticipate the semi-final that will be determined from United’s side of the draw will see them face Bilbao. The Spanish side are heavy favourites to see off Rangers after an impressive Europa League campaign up to now.

The La Liga outfit finished second in the league phase, one place and one point ahead of United, before coming from behind to beat Roma over two legs in the round-of-16. They lost the first leg 2-1 in Italy before winning 3-1 in the return leg in Spain, securing a 4-3 aggregate triumph.

Looking at the other side of the draw and the two quarter-finals between Frankfurt and Tottenham and Lazio and Bodo/Glimt, most people probably anticipate the second semi-final will be contested between Spurs and Lazio.

If that proves to be the case, the top four teams from the league phase of the competition will have made it to the last four, with Lazio winning the first stage of the competition and Spurs finishing fourth.

In the event of United getting the better of Bilbao and reaching the final, most Reds supporters will probably want to avoid Spurs, not least because the prospect of an all-English final may add to the pressure. Furthermore, one of the worst Spurs teams in living memory has already beaten United twice this season.

Of course, the magnitude of the occasion would be completely different to the two league meetings they have had this season, but an all-English final is likely to generate more pressure than a final against Lazio would do, for example.

The prospect of United and Spurs going head-to-head in the Europa League final for a trophy and Champions League qualification is probably the worst scenario the Reds could wish for amid the pressure that would come with it.