LINZ (Austria) • There will be no fans present when Manchester United take on Austria's Lask in the first leg of their last-16 Europa League tie today, but those back home are expecting nothing less than an 11th successive undefeated result in all competitions.

The match will be played behind closed doors owing to the coronavirus outbreak, which has also forced the next two Spanish La Liga rounds to be held in empty stadiums as well as the suspension of all Italian Serie A matches until April 3.

While the situation is far from ideal, defender Harry Maguire feels his side will not be distracted by the task at hand, with two trophies - the FA Cup and Europa League - and a top-four Premier League spot still to fight for.

United have hit a purple patch of late and their eight clean sheets in 10 games is something "to build on". Ahead of the trip to Lask, the Red Devils skipper told the club website: "We have conceded sloppy goals at sloppy moments... but, lately, we have cut it out.

"It is the key to start picking up good results and that is what we have done."

The global epidemic has resulted in Italy placing its entire 60-plus million population under a virtual lockdown for at least the next three weeks.

The country is the second-most affected nation after China - the city of Wuhan is the epicentre of the contagion - with 10,149 Covid-19 cases and 631 deaths as of yesterday.

That is why Spanish La Liga side Getafe refused to travel to Milan, which is the capital of the worst-hit region of Lombardy, for today's last-16 first leg.

Confirming they would rather risk a 3-0 default win for opponents Inter, club president Angel Torres told local radio station Onda Cero: "There are people who are scared of Uefa, but I'm scared of the people close to me contracting this disease by going to where 262 people have died in two days.

"If we have to lose the tie, then we lose it. We don't want to run any sort of risk."

LASK V MAN UNITED

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