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Southampton - who have sold enough quality players to make a good Premier League side in the past two years - now face a battle to hold onto forward Sadio Mane. 

Manchester United are interested in the 23-year-old Senegal international.

Mane scored 10 goals in 32 appearances last season after joining for £10m from Red Bull Salzburg, including the fastest ever Premier League hat-trick.

He starts today.

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FC Midtjylland midfielder Tim Sparv spent three years with Southampton's academy but never made a first-team appearance.

The 28-year-old Finland international said: "It’s a little bit surreal. I actually met some friends at the hotel.

“I definitely have fond memories of my time here. The academy set-up was incredible, everyone was really ambitious - new thinking, a modern approach. It was a great education that I got during my youth years.

“From an outside perspective I feel it’s a real model club from the way they conduct themselves, the youth players that they bring through. The football philosophy they have under Ronald Koeman is also very attractive."

Southampton:  Stekelenburg, Caulker, Fonte, Yoshida, Targett, Wanyama, Romeu, Ward-Prowse, Mane, Rodriguez, Pelle. Subs: K Davis, Cedric, Long, S Davis, Tadic, Martina, Juanmi.

Midtjylland:  Dahlin, Romer, Hansen, Sviatchenko, Lauridsen, Sisto, Poulsen, Sparv, Royer, Andersson, Rasmussen. Subs: Pusic, Urena, Olsson, Banggaard Jensen, Andersen, Onuachu, Hassan.

If you live in the BBC Solent area, you can listen to commentary of this game on a radio. Unfortunately it's not available online for rights reasons.

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If FC Midtjylland were a human, they wouldn't be old enough to drink alcohol yet. The club was formed in 1999 following the mergers of Ikast FS and Herning Fremad.

They were promoted to the top flight at the first attempt and won the league last season.

Unfortunately for them they lost to Apoel Nicosia in the Champions League qualifiers, which is why they are now in the Europa League.

Geography fans might be interested to know that Midtjylland isn't a town, but one of the five regions of Denmark, where the club is based.

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There are some big clubs playing tonight in the other qualifiers. Ajax are at home to Czech side Jablonec while Borussia Dortmund are away to Norwegian club Odd. 

Barcelona's Spanish Super Cup conquerors Athletic Bilbao are at Slovaks Zilina. Robin van Persie and Nani's new club Fenerbahce are at Atromitos Athens.

With the Europa League winners getting a Champions League berth, is it worth teams like Southampton going all out to win this tournament?

The Saints are more likely to win the Europa League than finish fourth in the Premier League, I'd have thought.

With that in mind, should West Ham have fielded a proper side in the qualifiers?

Let us know your thoughts on all things Europa League related using #bbcfootball on Twitter, 81111 on text (UK only, let us know your name) or on the BBC Sport and Match of the Day Facebook pages.

Adam Williams
BBC Sport at St Mary's

Southampton make four changes from the side which lost 3-0 at home against Everton in the Premier League on Saturday.

Manchester United target Sadio Mane starts as expected.

New signing Oriol Romeu is handed a full debut following his substitute appearance against the Toffees.

Elsewhere, Steven Caulker takes his place in defence, James Ward-Prowse comes in to midfield and Jay Rodriguez starts upfront.

Out go Shane Long, Steven Davis, Cedric Soares and Dusan Tadic. 

Southampton: Stekelenburg, Caulker, Fonte, Yoshida, Targett, Wanyama, Romeu, Ward-Prowse, Mane, Rodriguez, Pelle. Subs: K Davis, Cedric, Long, S Davis, Tadic, Martina, Juanmi.  

West Ham, Aberdeen, Inverness, St Johnstone, Glenavon, Glentoran, Linfield, Bala, Airbus and Newtown have all tried and failed.

Can Southampton succeed where their 10 British comrades didn't and reach the Europa League group stages through the qualifiers?

Tonight we will go 50% of the way to finding out.

Image source, AP