Manchester United welcome Athletic Bilbao to Old Trafford tonight for the second leg of our Europa League semi-final, with one foot already firmly in the final after last week’s emphatic performance in the Basque Country.
The Reds put in what many consider to be our finest European away display of the season, securing a commanding 3-0 victory at San Mamés to place us in pole position for a place in the Bilbao final on May 21st.
TEAM NEWS
United are dealing with some defensive concerns ahead of tonight’s crucial second leg. Matthijs de Ligt was forced off during Sunday’s disappointing 4-3 defeat at Brentford and appears set for another spell on the sidelines. The ever-reliable Diogo Dalot remains unavailable with the calf injury that kept him out of the first leg.
Ruben Amorim wisely rotated his squad at the weekend, with Bruno Fernandes, Casemiro and Rasmus Hojlund all rested as unused substitutes, while Noussair Mazraoui was left out of the squad entirely. Luke Shaw and Patrick Dorgu were both withdrawn at half-time as part of the manager’s careful minutes management.
One big positive is the continued return to fitness of Amad, who came off the bench to score our third goal at Brentford in added time. His recovery provides a welcome boost to our attacking options.
Ayden Heaven, Lisandro Martinez, Toby Collyer and Joshua Zirkzee remain unavailable, while Chido Obi, who started at Brentford, is ineligible for Europa League competition.
THE OPPOSITION
Athletic Bilbao arrive at Old Trafford with a mountain to climb but have been dealt further blows ahead of tonight’s clash. Daniel Vivian is suspended after receiving a straight red card in the first leg for denying a goalscoring opportunity.
More concerning for Ernesto Valverde is the absence of both Williams brothers, with neither Nico nor Inaki traveling to Manchester. Nico is nursing a foot injury while his older brother is dealing with a thigh issue – a devastating blow considering the duo have contributed to 38 goals between them this season.
Leading scorer Oihan Sancet, who missed the first leg with a hamstring problem, remains unavailable despite earlier suggestions he might recover in time.
Valverde rested several key players including goalkeeper Julen Agirrezabala and captain Oscar de Marcos for their goalless draw with Real Sociedad at the weekend, preserving some energy for what would need to be a historic comeback.
FORM GUIDE and predicted xi
All competitions
Manchester United: WLDWL
Athletic Bilbao: WLWLD
The Reds suffered a setback at the weekend with that 4-3 defeat at Brentford, despite goals from Mason Mount, Alejandro Garnacho and Amad providing some positives from an otherwise disappointing showing.
Prior to that, our commanding victory in Bilbao demonstrated what this team is capable of when playing to its potential, with Bruno Fernandes scoring twice after Casemiro had given us the lead, albeit against ten men for the majority of the contest.
Athletic Bilbao managed only a goalless draw against local rivals Real Sociedad at the weekend, their seventh 0-0 of the season, though the result keeps them inside La Liga’s top four with a three-point cushion in the race for Champions League qualification.
PREVIOUS MEETINGS
Our comprehensive 3-0 victory last week was just our second win against Bilbao in six competitive meetings. Casemiro opened the scoring with a header before Bruno Fernandes added a penalty after Vivian was dismissed for fouling Hojlund, and our captain then rounded off the scoring with a clinical finish to a flowing team move.
Bilbao’s last visit to Old Trafford came in 2012, when Marcelo Bielsa’s impressive side secured a 3-2 victory despite Wayne Rooney scoring twice for Sir Alex Ferguson’s team. They went on to win the return leg 2-1 to progress to the quarter-finals.
Our first-ever victory over Athletic came back in 1957, when the Busby Babes overturned a 5-3 first-leg deficit with a stunning 3-0 win at Maine Road in the European Cup quarter-finals.
PREDICTED LINEUP
Onana;
Yoro, Maguire, Shaw;
Mazraoui, Casemiro, Ugarte; Dorgu;
Fernandes Hojlund, Amad.
PREDICTION
With such a commanding first-leg advantage and Bilbao missing several key players, United should comfortably secure passage to the final. However, Amorim will be wary of complacency after seeing his rotated side lose at Brentford.
The Theatre of Dreams witnessed one of its most special European nights in the previous round against Lyon, and the home crowd will be eager to celebrate another positive step toward potential European glory.
Athletic Club will fight until the end, but with their top scorers all out, and United just needing to not lose heavily, were predicting a low-scoring draw.
Predicted score: United 1-1 Athletic Club