Man Utd’s statement win proves Europa League can still save season
Ruben Amorim said that winning the Europa League will not save Manchester United’s season. He was wrong. If they play like this, if they get through to the final, and if they triumph and qualify for the Champions League, then a lot of misery and under-performance will be forgotten.
United were simply fantastic against Athletic Bilbao as they finally gave an exciting glimpse of the football their head coach is trying to inculcate.
Amorim was not in need of a statement performance, he just wanted to get through. But United delivered one and produced – by a vast margin – their best game under the Portuguese. United were Basque-ing in the glory of it (sorry for that).
It was that kind of crazy night, with Harry Maguire eclipsing Nico Williams as the best winger on show – albeit in a mesmerising brief cameo to help open the scoring – and Casemiro rolling back the years to play like the European champion he was so regularly at Real Madrid.
In winning so convincingly, and with Tottenham Hotspur also winning, we have the likelihood of an all-English final back in Bilbao on May 21. That would mean six teams in the Champions League next season, including one who is either 14th or 16th in the Premier League at present. But those are the rules.
It is now seven wins in nine Europa League games for Amorim and just six in 23 in the Premier League which may say much about the strength of the European competition. But it is potentially a £100 million reward – and a trophy – for United.
It was so good for them that Amorim was even able to reintroduce Amad Diallo – out since early February – and Matthijs de Ligt from injury. He could not have wished for the evening to go better except, perhaps, for one more goal having played so long against 10-men.
But what a first half it was from United. What a devastating 15-minute burst – where has this been all season?
After proving he can make his mark at centre-forward in that stunning late, extra-time comeback win over Lyon in the quarter-final, Maguire was at it again.
Except this time it was as a right-winger as the centre-half went one way, then the other before creating the space for a cross. It was helped on by Manuel Ugarte and there was Casemiro beyond the far post to head home. That was classic wing-play from Maguire, who has shown great resilience in his United renaissance.
It came on the half hour and it stunned Bilbao, who were stunned again when they quickly conceded a penalty, losing defender Daniel Vivian to a red card in the process. The scenes were chaotic as Rasmus Hojlund, impressing with his selfless running, failed to turn in a low cross. Was it another miss from the centre-forward?
No, replays clearly showed he had been pulled back. It somehow took Norwegian referee Espen Eskas four minutes to go over to the pitchside monitor after a VAR call and award the kick and three more to get Vivian off. But he had to go. He made no attempt to play the ball, although Bilbao claimed there had been a handball by Alejandro Garnacho in the build-up.
Superbly, amid the perceiving whistles and almost a sense of mutiny, Bruno Fernandes held his nerve and rolled the spot-kick into the net. United, having been under fierce pressure, were two goals and a player up.
There was disbelief inside the stadium. The atmosphere? Well, it was simply phenomenal and it had built through the day with Bilbao fans fuelled by belief and kalimotxo – the mix of red wine and Coca-Cola that is a Basque speciality.
That fizz, that pop, that kick and that intensity was brought to the pitch. But, after some inevitable early scares, United quietened it. Before the scoring, Bilbao did threaten and a pivotal moment came when Álex Berenguer’s shot was blocked and the rebound falling to him only to strike Victor Lindelof on the goal-line.
It was a huge let-off, a slice of luck, and United capitalised. How they capitalised. They scored those two goals and added a third as they cut through the heart of the Bilbao defence with Ugarte smartly flicking the ball through for Fernandes to run clear and again calmly beat goalkeeper Julen Agirrezabala.
Then, on half-time, Noussair Mazraoui crashed a shot from 20 yards against the bar. As the whistle went it was followed by a deafening, angry cacophony from the disbelieving home supporters. Some hugged each other in commiseration. What a display from United, though.
Bilbao were sent out early for the second half – unsurprisingly after that debacle – and there was another shrill chorus of whistles as United and the referee emerged. It was predictable if misguided. Bilbao had only themselves to blame.
The danger for United was how the referee would react. Garnacho went over in the Bilbao area and, like Hojlund, looked like he was pulled back. Eskas played on.
Then Maroan Sannadi went over, with Lindelof putting his arm across him. The stadium erupted. The fury was raw, with hands on head and whistling again, and coach Ernesto Valverde was cautioned.
United had to keep their heads and that, in itself, was a test of their maturity. Another goal would end it, of course, and Casemiro forced a corner and then headed the delivery against the near post.
By now Bilbao were spent. The only noise from their fans was the drummer. They too had lost hope that they will host the final back in their home stadium. Instead, gloriously, United can expect to return.
10:28 PM BST
And finally, Bruno Fernandes speaks to TNT Sports
You can never predict a scoreline like that. A very tough team and the atmosphere was crazy. I love to play in stadiums like this. In the first half we got the result and then in the second half we controlled the game
We have been saying all week that the atmosphere was going to be bouncing, there were going to counter-press, we had to get on the ball and slow it down. That’s what it was like for the first 15-20 minutes.
Then we got the goal and the red card and [from then on[ we controlled the game. They wanted to keep it [at 3-0] and stopped pressing.
I need to take the responsibility to score and create and I need to keep delivering. If you want to be at the highest level you have to keep delivering.
No one was expecting that [Maguire’s wing play]. Harry is a much more confident man now. His position is becoming more and more strong. He just keeps improving, he’s a very good leader.
10:14 PM BST
Ruben Amorim speaks to TNT Sport
The result is really good. We have to understand the result because we struggled at the beginning then Casemiro scored and they had a sending off [which changed the game]. We had opportunities to score more. This is not done. They are so intense. They can do this.
You can feel especially at the beginning that Ugarte, with plenty of experience, is a little bit nervous, players like Bruno, Harry, Casemiro help a lot.
Harry is a good winger. Sometimes there are moments in our lives. And Harry has had some difficult moments. Now everything he does is good for the team and we have to enjoy it.
We are in the advantage and we have our fans but this can change, anything can happen.
We can be confident but we have to manage the players carefully against Brentford. Patrick [Dorgu] is tired, Mazraoui is dead.
10:09 PM BST
Maguire acknowledges a new nickname
Harradinho? I prefer Hairzinho.
10:03 PM BST
Harry Maguire speaks to TNT Sports
Listen, the first 20 minutes were difficult, we were a bit nervous, the crowd was super loud. The tie’s not done, we’ll be focused and Old Trafford will be like this place next week.
It was nice to do a bit of dribbling out there and put in a great cross. It was nice feeling and there was plenty of bodies in there. They must have trusted me to find them and Casa put it in.
A clinical first half, professional second half. We had chances but we maybe played it too safe, We could have played at a quicker tempo.
It’s a great start. All the pressure is on us because everyone will expect us to win now. Next Thursday we need to prepare well and give ourselves a great opportunity. One foot in the final but still not done.
09:59 PM BST
Full time: Athletic Bilbao 0 Man Utd 3
A cakewalk after weathering an early spell of pressure for Manchester United against 10 men. Fairly decent game management even if it smothered the fun in the second half but they ran their socks off and limited their mistakes, of which there were a few from Ugarte and Lindelof, to those opening minutes. As soon as they scored they grabbed the game by the scruff of its neck and a deflated home side couldn’t punish them for the odd moment of second-half complacency.
09:56 PM BST
90+4 min: Athletic Bilbao 0 Man Utd 3
Casemiro may dent his man of the match performance with a clumsy foul to concede a late free-kick 30 yards out. Djalo goes for the shot, bends it over the wall but Onana barely has to mive to swallow it whole.
09:54 PM BST
90+3 min: Athletic Bilbao 0 Man Utd 3
Gorosabel drives down the right and hangs up a cross that doesn’t dip in time and Gómez can only meet it with the top of his head and send it straight up vertically before it drifts over the bar.
09:52 PM BST
90+2 min: Athletic Bilbao 0 Man Utd 3
Some whistles now as United play keep-ball. Encouragingly the vast majority of Bilbao fans are bitter-enders. Roaring them on, however forlorn the cause.
09:51 PM BST
90 min: Athletic Bilbao 0 Man Utd 3
De Ligt, up for a free-kick from the left, latches on to a defensive header to fire a cross into a defender and out for a corner.
Four minutes of stoppage time to come.
09:50 PM BST
89 min: Athletic Bilbao 0 Man Utd 3
Djalo → Nico Williams
Gómez → Iñaki Williams.
09:48 PM BST
88 min: Athletic Bilbao 0 Man Utd 3
Bruno shoots over after a slick build-up between Mainoo and Shaw down the left. Shaw drags a pass to the left side of the box and Ferdinand hits it with his instep, blazing over. He immediately apologises to Mainoo who was running with the body shape of someone expecting a lay-off.
09:46 PM BST
86 min: Athletic Bilbao 0 Man Utd 3
Amad → Garnacho
Mainoo → Dorgu
Garnacho is booked for dawdling before going off.
09:45 PM BST
84 min: Athletic Bilbao 0 Man Utd 3
Good save from close range by Agirrezabala when Garnacho smashes a first-time shot from Shaw’s cut-back. The effort was fairly straight but very powerful and the keeper had to get his hands up quickly.
09:43 PM BST
81 min: Athletic Bilbao 0 Man Utd 3
Bruno whips a right-foot shot from the edge of the D and the keeper dives low to his left to parry it away. Dorgu pounces on it wide on the right, knocks it infield to Casemiro who wraps his instep around a dipping, bending cross to the far post. Hojlund lunges in but cannot reach it before it skips out for a goal-kick.
09:41 PM BST
78 min: Athletic Bilbao 0 Man Utd 3
Garnacho’s enterprising run earns him a corner that Bruno swings towards the keeper who gobbles it up.
09:38 PM BST
75 min: Athletic Bilbao 0 Man Utd 3
Shaw → Mazraoui.
The right wing-back has played well. Mount, who has given the ball away a couple of times, takes a yellow card for clipping Sannadi’s heels when he was going to run upfield from Mount’s latest loss of possession.
09:36 PM BST
73 min: Athletic Bilbao 0 Man Utd 3
‘You read my mind,’ says Rio Ferdinand to Robbie Savage. Insert your own gag.
Manchester United have been smooth and unruffled all half. Athletic cannot lay a glove on them.
09:33 PM BST
71 min: Athletic Bilbao 0 Man Utd 3
Nico hits the deck, slipping when he was trying to knock the ball past Lindlof and burn past him. Nothing has gone right for him tonight, by stark contrast with his Spain wing colleague Lamine Yamal.
09:30 PM BST
69 min: Athletic Bilbao 0 Man Utd 3
Iñaki’s long cross from the right is back-headed on to his brother by Mazraoui who rolls it back to Yuri. The left-back crosses and Casemiro boots it away.
09:28 PM BST
67 min: Athletic Bilbao 0 Man Utd 3
Iñaki gives Mount a ferocious stare, Paddingtonesque, when tripped by the sub. Mount puts a consoling hand on the back of his neck.
09:27 PM BST
65 min: Athletic Bilbao 0 Man Utd 3
De Ligt → Maguire
Mount → Ugarte.
Bruno Fernandes drops back alongside Casemiro.
09:25 PM BST
64 min: Athletic Bilbao 0 Man Utd 3
Casemiro rises at the near post to meet Bruno’s corner and thumps his header on to the outside of the left post with the keeper beaten.
09:25 PM BST
62 min: Athletic Bilbao 0 Man Utd 3
Ugarte shoots straight at Agirrezabala from 20 yards. Ferdinand praises Casemiro’s leadership and says he is coaching them through this match.
And now the Brazil midfielder whips a shot from 20 yards that goes up and dips alarmingly and forces Agirrezabala to turn it over, arching his back as he leapt.
09:22 PM BST
59 min: Athletic Bilbao 0 Man Utd 3
Manchester United roll the ball slowly across the back three, side to side and back to the wing-backs. They take so long that Athletic decide to press but as United counter Alvarez swipes his boot across Garnacho’s legs as the winger/No 10 threatened to break.
09:19 PM BST
57 min: Athletic Bilbao 0 Man Utd 3
Sannadi goes down when challenged by Maguire. The crowd goes spare but the referee awards nothing. It goes to VAR but Maguire was fouled before he bundled Sannadi over.
The white hankies are out for the ref.
09:16 PM BST
54 min: Athletic Bilbao 0 Man Utd 3
Now they inject some urgency as Dorgu suddenly accelerates on to Bruno’s return pass and whisk a cross through the six-yard box. Garnacho tries to reach it at the back post and goes flying. The red spectacles worn in the commentary box suggest it should be looked at and a penalty awarded because Yuri touched Garnacho. The ref, not a paid-up Man Utd fan, disagrees. As does the VAR.
Objectivity, where have you gone?
09:13 PM BST
52 min: Athletic Bilbao 0 Man Utd 3
Manchester United throw high on the right after tenacious work from Garnacho. United go backwards into their own half as they try to kill the game.
09:11 PM BST
50 min: Athletic Bilbao 0 Man Utd 3
Yoro tackles Sannadi who was played down the right by Paredes’ long pass. Amorim is encouraging them not to give Bilbao a sniff of a comeback. He knows it takes only seven minutes to score/concede three.
09:09 PM BST
48 min: Athletic Bilbao 0 Man Utd 3
Maguire brings the ball forward 30 yards but then checks back and switches to the right where Garnacho takes the ball out of play.
09:08 PM BST
46 min: Athletic Bilbao 0 Man Utd 3
Prados → Ruiz de Galaretta.
The crowd tries to rally their dispirited team at the start of the half. They have switched to 4-1-3-1, looking to stop the bleeding.
09:04 PM BST
Referee’s verdict
This is a holding offence which clearly impacted on Rasmus Hojlund’s opportunity to have a shot on goal.
Espen Eskaas, the Norwegian referee, went to the screen and awarded a penalty kick and a red card for the Denial of an Obvious Goal Scoring Opportunity, which is the correct decision.
But it is difficult to understand why it took so long to come to the correct decision, and I have to blame Eskaas’ starting position for what was clearly a crucial moment.
If the referee had achieved a better viewing angle he would have made an immediate decision as he would have been able to see a clear and obvious pull on Hojlund from the Athletic Bilbao defender Daniel Vivian.
VAR was correct to intervene but the length of time it takes to make the decision, nearly six minutes since the incident took place, places doubt in the mind of fans.
08:54 PM BST
Half-time: Athletic 0 Man Utd 3
Bruno bends the corner to the near post from the left. A flick sends it to the 18-yard line and Mazraoui could not have struck a left-foot shot more sweetly as it smacks into the cross-bar.
The game stops for a check for a foul in the area but the VAR says there was nothing untoward going on and the ref blows for half-time, closely pursued by raging Bilbao players who cannot believe he gave the penalty and then sent Vivian off. Both decisions were correct thougn there seemed to be handball from Garnacho preceding the incident.
08:51 PM BST
45+2 min: Athletic Bilbao 0 Man Utd 3
Ugarte almost finds Hojlund by the penalty spot and only Alvarez’s toe stopped him from swivelling to shoot. The ball goes behind for a corner.
08:47 PM BST
GOAL!
Athletic Bilbao 0 Man Utd 3 (Bruno) Bruno, Ugarte and Hojlund zip short passes between each other 30 yards out and Ugarte opens the defence with the cutest of back-heels through the D and Bruno bustles through and dinks it over the diving keeper. Lovely finish. Plenty of home fans immediately dropped their heads into their hands. Others headed for the bar for liquid fortitude.
08:45 PM BST
42 min: Athletic Bilbao 0 Man Utd 2
Double substitution by Ernesto Valverde:
Gorosabel → De Marcos
Paredes → Berenguer.
So, a right-back for a right-back, a centre-half for his No10.
08:42 PM BST
39 min: Athletic Bilbao 0 Man Utd 2
Lindelof goes to sleep again and gives the ball to Nico Williams who shoots and United luckily deflect it behind. Casemiro delivers a bollocking to Ugarte, Maguire to Lindelof along the theme of not throwing this away now.
08:39 PM BST
GOAL!
Athletic Bilbao 0 Man Utd 2 (Fernandes, pen) Takes it in his usual style, walks up to the spot, hops and then when the keeper makes his move to the left of goal, Bruno slots it calmly to the right.
08:38 PM BST
Bruno Fernandes steps up
The noise is piercing. Mass whistling.
08:37 PM BST
Manchester United penalty
And a red card for Vivian for denial of a goalscoring opportunity.
08:35 PM BST
VAR check for Man Utd penalty
Vivian holds back Hojlund in the box with a quick grab as he tried to meet Mazraoui’s low cross through the six-yard box. The referee is sent to the screen by the VAR. Defender’s left arm was on Hojlund’s shoulder.
08:32 PM BST
GOAL!
Athletic Bilbao 0 Man Utd 1 (Maguire) Rubbish free-kick from Bruno but Maguire of all people turns Willie Morgan out wide on the right to roast Jauregizar, twisting him right and then left before darting to the byline and standing up a near-post cross that Ugarte flicks on and Casemiro buries at the far post.
08:31 PM BST
29 min: Athletic Bilbao 0 Man Utd 0
De Marcos shoves Dorgu over as the left wing-back threatened to burst past into swathes of empty green grass. Manchester United free-kick
08:30 PM BST
27 min: Athletic Bilbao 0 Man Utd 0
Garnacho looks like Manchester United’s most likely matchwinner. They need to keep giving him the ball but the left of their midfield, particularly Dorgu and Ugarte’s partnership, is a gaping hole.
08:29 PM BST
25 min: Athletic Bilbao 0 Man Utd 0
Garnacho skitters down the right again and Yuri gives him a hurdle to hit with his telescoped leg. Bruno takes the free-kick, looking for Casemiro rather than Maguire for once but Sannedi beats him to it. Actually, that’s not fair on Casemiro. Bruno stood it up too high.
08:26 PM BST
23 min: Athletic Bilbao 0 Man Utd 0
Casemiro invites Hojlund to stretch his legs and is tripped to set up a free-kick that he sticks on Maguire’s head but he cannot connect with the deadly force of his 121st-minute special.
08:24 PM BST
21 min: Athletic Bilbao 0 Man Utd 0
Dorgu lets De Marcos pick up a long pass and waltz past him to cross deep. Mazraoui draws a foul to take the sting out of the attack.
08:22 PM BST
18 min: Athletic Bilbao 0 Man Utd 0
Attractive pace to the game which is breeding mistakes, the latest from Lindelof when he lets Iñaki dart past with Sannedi in space. Fortunately the Ghana forward misplaces the next pass. But seconds later he blocks two goal-bound shots from Berenguer after Dorgu failed to track Iñaki who bombed down the right on to Jauregizar’s chip and cut it back to the penalty spot. The first block was by the right post, the second from the follow-up on the six-yard line.
08:19 PM BST
15 min: Athletic Bilbao 0 Man Utd 0
Garnacho is waving to his midfielders, telling them he wants the ball played in behind Yuri. He reckons he has the former Cheltenham Town loanee on toast particularly as Nico is giving him no help whatsoever in tracking back.
08:17 PM BST
13 min: Athletic Bilbao 0 Man Utd 0
Speaking of dozy starts, Ugarte gives the ball away again on the left of the United field and Ruiz de Galaretta nips it away and feeds it to Nico to shoot into Lindelof’s shins.
08:14 PM BST
11 min: Athletic Bilbao 0 Man Utd 0
Iñaki heads over when he ghosts between Maguire and Yoro to meet Yuri’s inswinging cross. Eight yards out and clean through he twists his neck and steers it over the bar. Should have scored. Yoro and Maguire were far too dozy when he shaped to cross.
08:11 PM BST
9 min: Athletic Bilbao 0 Man Utd 0
Yuri, the left-back once on Spurs’ books, heads wide from the corner.
08:11 PM BST
7 min: Athletic Bilbao 0 Man Utd 0
Smart save from Onana down to his right to turn Berenguer’s thumped 20-yard shot round the post. That was Ugarte’s fault, dithering on the ball and then panicking with a heavy touch allowed the ball to move too far away from him and be picked off, catching his defenders out of position. Berenguer tacked infield from the inside-right to inside-left before letting fly.
08:08 PM BST
No goal
Neat finish, stealing in off the right wing but Bruno delayed the pass after some slick interplay between Mazraoui and Bruno. Garnacho could not have waited any longer on Yiri Berchiche’s shoulder.
08:07 PM BST
VAR check for offside
Garnacho sticks the ball past Agirrezabala with a right-foot shot.
08:06 PM BST
4 min: Athletic Bilbao 0 Man Utd 0
Hojlund chases a long chip from Casemiro up the right to the byline and bumps Berchiche, the left-back, who wants a free-kick but he barely touched him.
08:05 PM BST
3 min: Athletic Bilbao 0 Man Utd 0
Nico Williams skitters down the left and hangs up a deep cross, expecting his brother to have stepped in off the wing but he hadn’t. Dorgu lets it hit him and turns it behind. He also expected Iñaki to be there. There’s no price to pay for net checking his shoulders though as Maguire heads the corner away.
08:03 PM BST
1 min: Athletic Bilbao 0 Man Utd 0
The atmosphere is electric as Manchester United in navy shorts kick off and knock it all the way back to Onana who fly-kicks it up the left. De Marcos wins the header and Iñnaki Williams takes it up the right. Maguire sorts him out.
08:01 PM BST
As in previous Uefa games this week…
There will be a minute’s silence for Pope Francis.
Not well observed at all. Athletic’s ultras just carried on singing and chanting.
07:59 PM BST
The players are out
Manchester United’s short and socks, which they claim are ‘onyx’, look more like ‘anxious ferret’.
07:57 PM BST
I regret to inform you…
That TNT Sports has reunited Darren Fletcher, Robbie Savage and Rio Ferdinand in the commentary box. They have brought their pom-poms, batons and full cheerleaders outfits, no doubt.
07:44 PM BST
A brief word from Ruben Amorim
Victor [Lindelof] is playing well, he is good on the ball and we need him. We need to be careful with Matthijs and Amad but we can use them. We need to use the pace behind the defence with Garnacho but Lenny [Yoro] is in the game, Vic [Lindelof] is in the game, Harry [Maguire] is in the game from set-pieces and we have Bruno who can deliver good balls in the box.
We have shown we can win these kind of games. We have to be ready, start better than against Bournemouth. In the beginning we were not ready for pressure so we have to be better in the first minutes.
07:36 PM BST
Cult hero
07:33 PM BST
Poster boy
There is no doubt who the Athletic Bilbao star player and poster boy is: Nico Williams. A feature of the city on match day is the extraordinary number of people who wear the Athletic home shirt – from breakfast time onwards. I would estimate that 90 per cent have Williams Jnr on the back of their shirt (Nico’s older brother Iñaki is also in the team, of course) and the other 10 per cent wear retro numbers. Williams Jnr spoke at the pre-match press conference. The Spanish international has not had the best of seasons but has been a threat in this competition.
07:25 PM BST
Bilbao out in force to support its club
07:18 PM BST
Basque tipple
It is less than 50 minutes to kick off and the stadium is virtually empty… that is because the Athletic Bilbao fans are still in the countless bars in the city centre and just a goal-kick away from the stadium where the favoured drink is either or kalimotxo – a Basque favourite which is basically a large beer glass filled with red wine and then topped up with coca-cola. It definitely looks an acquired taste.
I can attest that it’s an acquired taste but one worth acquiring…
07:15 PM BST
The swizz is in
This magnificent 53,000 capacity stadium in the heart of Bilbao will be the venue for the final in less than three weeks’ time. Of course that is an added incentive for Athletic Bilbao who are undoubtedly the favourites to beat Manchester United over two legs. If United make it the bad news for their fans will be the hotel prices in Bilbao. Although the stadium and its location are certainly fit for purpose there is a huge problem with hotels… a modest three-star is charging £1,000-a-night non-refundable.
Uefa really has to get to grips with this rip-off as it happens for every final. It would be easy for them to tell host cities they have to insist hotels agree to cap their prices otherwise they will not get the final. It is as simple as that but, as ever, the fans are treated badly.
07:11 PM BST
TNT Sports has shipped Rio Ferdinand to San Mamés
I suppose he was in Barcelona last night so it’s a short hop but that means Paul Scholes is confined to the studio. The big question is whether they will inflict the Savage/Ferdinand double act on us later as joint co-comms. Please, no.
Three in the commentary box doesn’t work for football matches. Last night’s match was marred for UK viewers by incessant babbling. Ally McCoist needs room to breathe but that’s not possible with Darren ‘Darren’ Fletcher and Rio ‘Ri’ Ferdinand.
07:03 PM BST
You may be surprised by Athletic’s choice in goal
Unai Simon, Spain’s Euro 24-winning keeper is on the bench not between the posts. But that’s because his deputy Julen Agirrezabala had been promised this competition and he has played in nine of their 10 games and Simon is fine with that decision.
07:00 PM BST
Those teams in black and white
Athletic Bilbao Agirrezabala; De Marcos, Vivian, Alvarez, Yuri Berchiche; Jauregizar, Ruiz de Galarreta; Iñaki Williams, Berenguer, Nico Williams; Sannadi.
Substitutes Boiro, Canales, Gomez, Prados, Nunez, Lekue, Djalo, Guruzeta, Vesga, Paredes, Gorosabel, Simon.
Man Utd Onana; Yoro, Maguire, Lindelof; Mazraoui, Casemiro, Ugarte, Dorgu; Garnacho, Fernandes; Hojlund.
Substitutes Bayindir, Heaton, De Ligt, Mount, Eriksen, Diallo, Shaw, Mainoo, Amass, Fredricson, Kamason, Mantato.
Referee Espen Eskas (Norway).
06:52 PM BST
Manchester United team news
Lindelof starts; Amad and De Ligt fit for the bench. Ugarte and the Sweden centre-half replace Mainoo and Shaw from the XI who started the draw with Bournemouth on Sunday.
06:51 PM BST
Athletic Bilbao team news
Maroan Sannedi not Guruzeta starts up front.
06:49 PM BST
Kit watch
Manchester United will be wearing their navy blue third shirts tonight because they can’t wear the home red or away white against the red and white stripes. But because Athletic play in black shorts, United have had to switch from navy to what they call ‘onyx’. Looks like light grey to me rather than the agate.
05:35 PM BST
Betting on tonight’s match
Check out these best sites and offers first.
05:33 PM BST
Sign up for the best of our football news, features and analysis
05:28 PM BST
Preview: Another seat of the pants ride?
Good evening and welcome to live coverage of the Europa League semi-final first leg between Athletic Club and Manchester United from San Mamés in Bilbao whither Ruben Amorim’s team will hope to return in 20 days time for the final. To do that the Premier League’s 14th-placd club will need to knock out La Liga’s fourth-placed club who, like Manchester United, are the holders of their main domestic cup.
United needed a ridiculous seven-minute turnaround in extra-time from 4-2 down against Lyon to win 5-2 in stoppage time and that seat-of-the-pants-style late spree has been a hallmark of their progress, scoring a winner in the 88th minute against Viktoria Plzen, the second minute of stoppage time against Rangers, in the 87th and first minute of stoppage time against Athletic’s deadly rivals Real Sociedad and in the 88th minute of the away leg in Lyon.
By contrast Bilbao’s progress had been relatively serene until they had to fight back to beat Roma in the Round of 16 4-3 and they then went on to knock out Rangers 2-0 after a goalless draw at Ibrox. The Williams’ brothers ought to be back to lead the line for a club that has beaten United in three of their four previous competitive matches, lastly under Marcelo Bielsa in 2012. But Oihan Sancet, an attacking midfielder enjoying has best season with 18 goals which has earned him a call-up to the national side was injured in last week’s 1-0 victory over Las Palmas and will sit this one out. Both Iñaki, 30, and the much-coveted Nico, 22, have five goals apiece in this competition and will dovetail behind Gorka Guruzeta who is a key player for Ernesto Valverde’s side.
Athletic have won both of their semi-finals in this competition before, defeating Molenbeek in 1976-77 and United in 2011-12. Manchester United have lost two and won two, stretching back to the Fairs Cup defeat by Ferencvaros in 1965 followed by a victory over Celta Vigo in 2017, elimination at the hands of Sevilla in a pandemic, one-leg scramble and victory over Roma in 2021.
Amad Diallo and Matthijs de Ligt have returned to full training but it would be a shock to see them even on the bench. Toby Collyer, Ayden Heaven and Altay Bayindir are still unavailable this week while Messrs Dalot, Zirkzee and Martínez are on the long-term casualty list.
