Ruben Amorim told his players that the job is not done despite Manchester United taking a giant step towards the Europa League final with a memorable away win at 10-man Athletic Bilbao.
A return to San Mames for the May 21 showpiece against Bodo/Glimt or, more likely, Tottenham is within touching distance having seen out an early storm against a side desperately seeking to reach the final at their stadium.
Athletic flew out the blocks but imploded after Casemiro put United ahead in the 30th minute, with Bruno Fernandes keeping his cool to score from the spot after Dani Vivian saw red for bringing down Rasmus Hojlund.
Loud and proud in Bilbao — we heard you! ❤️🔥🔊#MUFC || #UEL pic.twitter.com/PmDTKbMDut
— Manchester United (@ManUtd) May 1, 2025
The nerveless captain added another before the break to complete a 3-0 win for the Red Devils, who head into next Thursday’s reverse fixture in complete control of the semi-final.
“I think they have to think about the second leg,” Amorim said of his message to United’s players.
“And they have to think more about the first 20 minutes than the rest of the game because the game is going to be really tough.
“There is no away goals so anything can change and that is my message to the players, and we have to think now about Brentford and then the second leg.”
Asked if that was United’s best performance since taking charge in November, the United head coach said: “No, I think it is the best result because nobody expected this result.
Bruno Fernandes in the Europa League:
🪄 Most assists in competition history (18)⚽️ 3rd most goals in competition history (27)
Unreal. 👏 pic.twitter.com/gdeQckDaHx
— Football on TNT Sports (@footballontnt) May 1, 2025
“But, again, I think you saw two games today – the first 25 minutes and then after the goal, and also with the sending off the game changed.
“That was a good thing, also a good thing in the second half was we tried to be cautious.
“We create chances but the most important thing is that the opponent didn’t get many shots to our goal and that was really important.”
It was a night to cherish in what has been a season to forget on the domestic front, with United sat 14th and enduring their worst season of the Premier League era.
“It’s hard to explain,” Amorim said of the difference to Europe, where they remain unbeaten. “We improve in the last games. I don’t look just to the results.
“We had some games that we won that we didn’t play well and some games that we lost but we played well. Sometimes you just need a little bit luck.
“If you imagine the first 30 minutes, they have chances to score. If they score, it’s a different game so we need to understand these moments.
“When we score, we felt more and more free to play, so I know that that is hard. It’s a different competition.
“I know that is hard to understand, but sometimes it’s the context, it’s the way we see things.
“We can win this competition and in Premier League we are just suffering game after game, so try to manage both things with some injuries. Sometimes it’s harder even for the players.”
Athletic head coach Ernesto Valverde reflected on a “very bad result” and expressed frustration about the second goal, with Alejandro Garnacho touching the ball with his hand in the build-up to a cross that led to the penalty and red card after referee Espen Eskas was sent to the monitor.
“Well, the play-off has not finished yet,” he said. “We have challenged a previous handball by Garnacho.
“We thought that it had hit his hand and we believe that’s something that referee needs to assess, and the play continued. That’s what we challenged but it’s the ref who needs to referee.
“It’s been too much of a punishment, not only by the fact that they we going to be 2-0 but because we had to play with one man down, so we have felt that of course.”
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