Real Sociedad will compete against Manchester United in the second stage of their Europa League round of 16 draw, but they will do this without the services of midfielder Arsen Zakharyan, forced to leave the Imanol Alguacil's team with just a few hours to go to the kick-off at Old Trafford.
Zakharyan, who missed the vast majority of the season due to an injury, managed to recover on time to be mentioned in the MatchDay team for the trip to Manchester, but on arrival at the airport in Madrid he was not allowed to travel due to visa problems, as reported by El Diario Vasco. That is why he spent on Wednesday evening in Paris, and La real teammate Hamari Traore, who had similar problems.
The problems of Traore were resolved on Thursday morning, but according to the report Zakharyan was unable to secure the necessary documents to travel to Manchester for confrontation. As a result, he is forced to withdraw from the MatchDay team and has still returned to Madrid. After the issue was completed, his entourage thanked the attention and efforts of the club, but the procedures did not ultimately worn fruit.
Zakharyan will stay in the Spanish capital to view his teammates in action against Man United, where La Real travels there tomorrow prior to their La Liga collision against Rayo Vallecano on Sunday, for which the Russian midfielder will be available.
Zakharyan would not have been a starter for La Real at Old Trafford, but it is still a blow to Imanol without his services for the second stage, which the Basque giants have to win if they have to reach the quarterfinals after last week's 1-1 draw in the Reale Arena.
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