Man Utd fan Mark Goldbridge calls out 'absolute joke' Europa League draw on livestream

Manchester United fan Mark Goldbridge called out the legitimacy of Monday's Europa League draw after the Premier League side were handed a tough clash against Barcelona.

Erik ten Hag's side will come up against the Spanish giants in a two-legged playoff in next year's knockout rounds after they narrowly missed out on automatic qualification to the last 16.

Last week, United recorded a 1-0 win against Real Sociedad after a well-taken goal from Alejandro Garnacho, but it wasn't enough as the La Liga outfit topped Group E on goal difference.

It means they face one of the tournament favourites on Thursday 16 February and Thursday 23 February.

As he often does, Manchester United fan Mark Goldbridge reacted to the Europa League draw live on The United Stand's official YouTube channel.

And it didn't take long for the online personality to make a suggestion about how the balls were handled prior to the fixture between Barcelona and United being made.

He said: "Zoltan Gera was looking there. He knows what Man United is. He was looking at the balls. He should be blind. It should be a blind draw. He took it out and dropped it."

Why he is catching one ball and pretending to mix it?😂#EuropaLeague pic.twitter.com/hLhkKVArDY

— Pitbull (@zdevils_) November 7, 2022

Moments later and former West Brom midfielder Gera, who helped conduct the draw, opened the ball.

To the utter dismay of The United Stand presenter, Barcelona's opponents were confirmed.

Goldbridge fumed: "It's Man United. I f**king knew it! He bloody looked at it! That's a sh*t draw. That's a bloody joke. I bloody knew it. That's not how you do a draw. You can't take the balls and then drop them in.

"He watched it take the Man United one, he dropped it in the bowl. He can see. He can bloody see. Absolute joke. Absolute joke. Absolute joke.

"I don't care what anybody says, you can tell what ball to pick. He can."

“HE KNEW WHAT BALL TO PICK!” @markgoldbridge is angry at the Europa League Draw as he says they knew which ball to pick to put #mufc against Barcelona.

What’s your reaction to this draw?👇 pic.twitter.com/kwhQRFhMd9

— The United Stand (@UnitedStandMUFC) November 7, 2022

Barcelona manager Xavi thinks they've been drawn against the strongest team left in this season's competition.

"We will have to compete," he said at a press conference. "Going to Manchester against a really tough rival and a historic side that has grown a lot with Ten Hag, with great individual players.

"Yes, it is the toughest rival, once again, in the Europa League. We will have to compete, it's a massive challenge for us, our players will probably be more motivated against a strong team and we will have to compete."

Thoughts on the draw? Let us know in the comments.