BILBAO, Spain — A performance out of nowhere and a result no one saw coming: Manchester United breathed new life into their ailing season by shocking Athletic Club in the Europa League semifinals on Thursday night.
A stunning 3-0 victory in Bilbao means Ruben Amorim’s team — battered and bruised by a miserable campaign in the Premier League — stand on the brink of return here later this month for a European final.
It was made possible by a blistering end to the first half during which United scored three goals in 15 frantic minutes.
None of it really made any sense. United struggle to score goals, but suddenly became clinical. Athletic Club have the best defensive record in Spain, but were momentarily ragged and disorganised.
Most importantly for Amorim, the Europa League is continuing to provide him with a lifeline. The chance to lift a European trophy is one thing — but for the club and coach, the financial boost of Champions League football could be even more important ahead of a pivotal summer transfer window.
Too often this season, United have wilted in these pressure moments. But faced with a buoyant Athletic Club flying high in LaLiga and roared on by their ferocious home support, United tamed The Lions and quietened the stadium nicknamed “The Cathedral.”
Amorim, secretly, might have arrived in northern Spain hoping his side’s hopes would still be alive by the time the two teams meet again at Old Trafford next week. Instead, he was left insisting that it’s not over.
It should be over, but as they proved again in Bilbao, with United you just never know what’s coming.
“I think it is the best result because nobody expected this result,” said Amorim. “I think it is hard to explain. We improve in the last games and I don’t look just to the results.
“We had some games we lost and played well. If you imagine the first 30 minutes [tonight] they had some chances to score and didn’t. When we score we feel more free to play. We can win this competition and in the Premier League we are just suffering game after game.”
He’s not wrong. Amorim’s Premier League record stands at six wins from 23 games. In the Europa League, it’s seven wins from nine.
For United, there’s as much as £100 million riding on winning the competition, but it means just as much to Athletic Club. Their fans took advantage of a public holiday and packed the streets of Bilbao hours before kick-off. The roads around the stadium were a sea of red and white from early afternoon. Flags were draped over balconies on high-rise flats. Flares filled the air with smoke.
This is only Athletic Club’s third ever European semifinal and they may never get another chance to play in a final at San Mames. For 20 minutes, they looked desperate to take their opportunity.
With United anxious and edgy, Athletic Club were roared forward by their home fans. Manuel Ugarte was robbed in midfield and Álex Berenguer forced a good save from André Onana. Moments later, Iñaki Williams headed over a glorious chance before his brother, Nico, created another opportunity after pinching the ball from Victor Lindelöf.
Lindelof was a surprise inclusion from Amorim, but Diogo Dalot’s injury and fitness concerns around Luke Shaw and Matthijs De Ligt meant he had to play. He was in the right place at the right time to block another Berenguer shot on the line. At that point, 20 minutes in, it looked only a matter of time before Athletic Club would find the net.
But just as United flipped the quarterfinal against Lyon, they did the same here.
The opening exchanges will have done nothing to steady the nerves of United fans, but by halftime they were booking their flights for the final.
First, Casemiro headed in Harry Maguire’s cross at the back post. Perhaps it should have been clear then that it would be United’s night when Maguire, juking and turning, morphed into a tricky winger on the right to produce the most unlikely of assists.
Then, after Daniel Vivian was adjudged to have pulled back Rasmus Hojlund in the box and was sent off, Bruno Fernandes converted a penalty. There was still time for Fernandes to score again after being sent through by Casemiro’s clever back heel and for Noussair Mazraoui to hit the bar.
Athletic Club have only conceded 10 goals at home in LaLiga this season. United got three in 15 minutes.
It was the first time in nearly 60 years that United scored three first-half goals away from home in a major European knock-out game.
Athletic Club felt it had only happened because of the referee. Furious players raced toward Norwegian Espen Eskas at half-time to continue their protests at the penalty and the red card. The home fans screamed and whistled as the officials left the pitch.
“It’s too much of a punishment,” said Athletic head coach Ernesto Valverde afterwards. “Not only by the fact that they are going to be 2-0 up but because we had to play with one man down, so we have felt that of course.”
The noise was cranked up a notch when one Athletic Club pass hit the referee’s heels early in the second half. And it felt like the roof might come off the stadium when Eskas decided not to give a foul when Maguire and Maroan Sannadi tangled chasing a ball over the top.
To United’s credit, they managed the frenetic atmosphere and could have extended their lead. Casemiro hit the post with a header and Hojlund came close to scoring a fourth.
It would have only made for an even more dominant night. Rather than get caught up in the celebrations, Amorim is airing on the side of caution.
“I think they [the players] have to think about the second leg,” he said.
“And they have to think more about the first 20 minutes than the rest of the game. The game is going to be really tough. Anything can change. That is my message to the players. We have to think about Brentford [on Sunday] and then the second leg.”
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