Luke Shaw has admitted Manchester United do not want to be playing in the Europa League – but believes that playing one of the best teams in Europe in the next round can only help the team improve.
United have already qualified from their group with one game to spare and Thursday's showdown with front-runners Real Sociedad will determine who finishes top of the group. Erik ten Hag's side can overtake the Basque unit if they beat them by a bigger margin than the 1-0 defeat United suffered against them at Old Trafford in the opening round of the tournament.
Going through in top spot could be crucial as the quality of teams increases sharply in the knock-out stages when clubs that finished third in their Champions League groups enter the competition. United could face the likes of Barcelona or Bayer Leverkusen in their next set of fixtures should they fail to beat Sociedad on Thursday night.
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It has the makings of a tough knock-out stage for United but Shaw is excited about the challenge and believes it's a tournament United should be looking to win.
"Yeah, I do believe that," he replied when asked if the higher standard of the competition will help United improve by the club's in-house media. "Of course first and foremost we don't want to be in the Europa League we want to be in the Champions League.
"But I think you look at the Champions League teams that as well that are maybe dropping out it would obviously grow a bit, a bit of a step up when they drop in so I think that's good for us, you want to be playing against the best teams and, of course, we are in the competition. It's a competition that we have to look at that we need to win."
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