• United in Europa League last eight after beating Sociedad
• ‘We need to help him win titles because he deserves this’

Ruben Amorim praised Bruno Fernandes’s hat-trick performance that swept Real Sociedad aside and took Manchester United into the Europa League quarter-finals, saying his side “needs to win titles” for the captain.

After Mikel Oyarzabal struck first via an early penalty, United dominated, Fernandes scoring two from the spot on 16 and 50 minutes, before a superb late strike to complete the hat-trick. Diogo Dalot’s added-time fourth sealed progress.

Manchester United kept their trophy hopes alive with a swaggering display that battered Real Sociedad and must be the Ruben Amorim blueprint.

From the moment they fell behind early on, his side were electrified, as if finally locating the high-voltage socket under him and gleefully plugging themselves in. United came at Real Sociedad relentlessly, a whir of energy and creativity that is the best advertisement yet for where their head coach might take them.

• Updates from a finely-poised last-16 tie (agg 1-1, 8pm KO)
• Get in touch! Email Daniel | Live scores

It’s big night tonight for Højlund. He’s improved a bit in the last couple of games – he’s getting chances and missing them, rather than disappearing – and has done well in Europe since joining United. I think Amorim has him pegged, as it goes:

“We have to look at Rasmus as a player – he has the pace, he has the technique, he’s scored some goals that are really hard to score. Sometimes he doesn’t choose the better run, sometimes he’s so anxious to touch the ball and he moves away from the goal. We address that in training but sometimes it is the confidence of the player.”

Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s company Compass is sadly symptomatic of what football has become

What’s this? A second article about the Ineos Compass in a week – it’s this kind of inefficiency that would never happen at Manchester United. But I have been staring at the Ineos Compass for the past 48 hours. For those of you fortunate enough not to have encountered it, according to Ineos’s website “the Ineos Compass was devised by chairman Sir Jim Ratcliffe as a fun way of attempting to capture how Ineos works, and why”.

To the untrained (and perhaps also to the trained) eye, it is just a circle with words in it. “Words we like” are in the top portion and “words we don’t like” in the bottom. We like “no human is limited” – despite Sir Jim highlighting the limitations of a number of first-team players on Monday.

Local people are enthusiastic about regeneration, though some fans share Andy Burnham’s worries over where the money will come from

Even on a freezing, rainy day with no match scheduled, the area surrounding Old Trafford in Manchester is abuzz with football fans from far and wide.

Just a day since Manchester United revealed their plans for the new 100,000-capacity stadium in Old Trafford, there is a sense of excitement at the new proposals: the plans promise 92,000 jobs and a large-scale “regeneration” of the area, including 17,000 new homes.

• United manager says criticism of his players is fair
• Yoro and Maguire ruled out of Real Sociedad second leg

Ruben Amorim has said that Sir Jim Ratcliffe was correct to criticise Manchester United players, saying he and they are “underperforming”.

Ratcliffe claimed on Monday that the squad was overpaid and not good enough, referencing Casemiro, Rasmus Højlund, André Onana, Antony and Jadon Sancho when doing so. Amorim was asked about the comments from the club’s co-owner.

• Berrada hopes investment in team will not be affected
• Plan to build £2bn stadium in five years has this in mind

Omar Berrada has admitted it is a “risk” for Manchester United to try to build a world-class team and venue at the same time. The club announced on Tuesday they planned to construct a 100,000-seat ground on land adjacent to Old Trafford.

Berrada hopes United can move into the £2bn stadium by the start of the 2030-31 season but said the cost of building it could have an impact, acknowledging that Arsenal and Tottenham struggled to juggle building a ground and fighting at the top.

On Manchester United’s job losses, finances and new stadium, it takes hawk-like focus to work out what the co-owner is actually saying

A core strength of Ineos is direct accountability. Matrix structures are by definition amorphous, confusing, and create places for people to hide.

Hmm. That does sound bad, Sir Jim. Talk me through it one more time, these frustrating corporate shields, these blame-avoidance tactics you’re so worried about. But first could you please just come out from behind the table. And stop doing that admittedly very good Donald Duck voice.

Local lad Norman Foster’s plan envisions an enormous canopy over a new stadium and a ‘mixed-use mini-city’. But, given the club’s £1bn debts, the idea seems as flimsy as its own tensile membrane

‘What Manchester does today,” Benjamin Disraeli once proclaimed, “the world does tomorrow.” So begins the breathless promotional video for Manchester United’s proposed £2bn football stadium, summoning the words of the Victorian prime minister to launch Norman Foster’s vision for a “mixed-use mini city” beneath a gigantic, three-spired tent.

The only thing is, the world has seen quite a lot of big tops before. There is something decidedly retro about the plans, which depict a vast tensile canopy stretched over the 100,000-capacity stadium and its surrounds, covering what Lord Foster says will be “arguably the largest public space in the world”. Putting something bigger than Tiananmen Square under a tent doesn’t sound like a particularly appealing prospect, but then the Man Utd mantra appears to be bigger is better.

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Iconic. Ambitious. Exciting. Spine-tingling. All these adjectives and more greeted Tuesday morning’s announcement that Manchester United will build a 100,000-seater stadium to replace Old Trafford, and construct it within a five-year period. Add some context and one has to admire, above all, Big Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s chutzpah. Debts for his petrochemicals empire are forecast to reach almost £10bn this year. The All Blacks are taking legal action against Ineos for exiting a sponsorship deal early. Big Sir Jim has introduced a raft of cost-cutting measures at United, including more than 400 job losses and closure of the staff canteen.

I’m in good form, absolutely brilliant. On the flight I had chest pains and the crew on Virgin were brilliant … my heart rate was racing. From the time I was monitored on the aeroplane and for the few days in hospital, my resting heart rate was anything above 155 beats per minute. I had a virus that attached itself to my heart that just needed clearing, rebooting and going through the process. When I get home I will have some medical checks and go and see my GP, but I feel terrific now” – Stuart Pearce delivers some good news after his medical scare on a flight back from Las Vegas last week.

To be fair, Norman Foster has done a great job for Manchester United with his rendering of a new Old Trafford. Any chance he could also conjure up a couple of strikers who can score goals, a central midfield with some pace and a defence without Victor Lindelöf too while he’s at it?” – Noble Francis.

‘Not good enough and overpaid’: a moment of clarity from Big Sir Jim? Oh, he was talking about the players” – Adrian Riley.

Can I be the first of 1,057 readers to suggest that if Mikel Arteta’s side are serious about progressing beyond the Round of Arsenal, then they could really use an early goal in the second leg to settle the nerves?” – Ed Taylor (and no others).

I believe R Reisman (yesterday’s Football Daily letters) is on to something. I have filled out his feedback form and have successfully passed all conditions: a) this is funny; b) not too long; c) not offensive; d) I’m not Noble Francis; e) there are no links; f) hopefully no one else thought of this” – Mike Glogower (and no others).

• Officials say plan will create 92,000 jobs and 17,000 homes
• Architect Norman Foster puts ‘vast umbrella’ over ground

Manchester United have confirmed their intention to build a new 100,000-capacity stadium in the Old Trafford area, leaving their home of 115 years.

The news was celebrated by United as a potential driving force for renewal in the area as they revealed plans which, officials claim, will create as many as 92,000 jobs and 17,000 new homes in Greater Manchester.