Manchester United manager Erik Ten Hag has expressed his concern over the heavily congested fixtures for players ahead of his side’s extended UEFA Europa League opener on Wednesday.

The Red Devils will kick off their campaign in Europe at Old Trafford on Wednesday night in the first of eight group stage matches – now two more than the usual six matches after the alteration to the format made by UEFA.

It would be recalled that Manchester City midfielder Rodri also raised the prospect of players going on strike in protest before City’s barren draw against Inter Milan – and four days before he suffered a suspected torn ACL in City’s game against Arsenal.

The United boss also expressed serious reservations over playing too much football and called for a better balance between the commercial demands of the game and the welfare of the players.

“We have said it many times, there are a lot of games and too many competitions, it’s clear. The players are overloaded, and this is not good for the game in any way. It might be good for commercials, but there’s a limit. Players getting injured is unavoidable because of the players having so many games.”

Ten Hag further opined that the decision to extend the Europa League has made it more difficult to win but sees it as a big opportunity to enter the Champions League automatically.

“I think it’s an opportunity. There are many other ways to achieve the targets you want, and this is surely one of them. It’s probably the most difficult in a tournament of thirty-two, you have to be the best but it’s a target, it’s a road we want to go.”

This is the fourth season in the eleven years after Sir Alex Ferguson retired that a season in the UEFA Europa League has followed a campaign in the Champions League.