United blast past Bilbao to reach Europa League Final

Semi-final 2nd leg

Manchester United 4-1 Athletic Club (Agg. 7-1)

Ruben Amorim’s bold gamble has Manchester United on course for their worst domestic league season in decades but, on a nervy night at Old Trafford, it has also booked his club an unexpected Europa League final date with Tottenham in two weeks.

That will take place in Bilbao and Athletic may never get another chance to play a European final at their home stadium although, considering they came to Manchester with a 3-0 first leg deficit, they made a good attempt at it.

In fact, it was not until the 72nd minute, when Leny Yoro marauded into the Bilbao area, laid the ball off for substitute Mason Mount and the former England international curled in an equaliser, that the Reds could enjoy the night.

Casemiro’s neat, near-post header, from a Bruno Fernandes free-kick seven minutes later, took a deflection and finally saw that rarest of Old Trafford phenomena this season – wide and happy grins from all of a United disposition.

And, by the time Rasmus Hojlund tapped in Amad Diallo’s cross for a United third on 85 minutes, Amorim’s recent decisions were all fully vindicated.

There was more to come, in the first minute of added time, when Mount spotted the keeper off his line and floated the ball into the open goal from just inside the Bilbao half. Old Trafford had never seen anything like it, under Amorim at any rate.

Until that late flurry, it was edge-of-the-seat stuff for United, but, while it may have been unconvincing for long stretches, Amorim’s men had done enough in the first leg to justify their passage.

For weeks, Amorim has been transparent in his intent to relegate Premier League matters and focus on the Europa League, and a possible route into next season’s Champions League.

Indeed, since the middle of December, United have only won one game against a team that is going to be in the Premier League next season – in January at Fulham – with their only other victories coming against relegated sides.

It shows how much emphasis Amorim has placed on Europe’s second biggest competition, at the expense of their domestic campaign, and now he stands just one win from that aim of Champions League football. It had looked very much as though the spectacular 3-0 victory in last week’s first leg in Bilbao had done the hard work in this particular tie: after all, United had never lost a home European game by three or more goals.

And after the pre-match pyrotechnics, ably assisted by 4,000 vocal Basque supporters, all clad in red, had died down, United made a composed enough start – for eight minutes at least – until Noussair Mazraoui gifted the ball to Unai Gomez whose pass to Alex Berenguer ended in a shot that curled over the home bar.

Athletic were building a head of steam, although this also seemed to be playing into United’s hands, with Amorim’s team more comfortable on the counter. Halfway through the first period, Bilbao avoided a VAR penalty call, following Andoni Gorosabel’s challenge on Patrick Dorgu, while Rasmus Hojlund almost managed to break clear.

They were moments that could have put the tie to bed. Instead, United found themselves caught in a waking nightmare when Bilbao opened the scoring after 31 minutes.

It came from a mistake from Harry Maguire, who steered a poor clearance to Alvaro Djalo whose shot struck Yoro and rebounded directly to Mikel Jauregizar.

The midfielder had time to gather the ball, take aim and curl a perfect finish into the top corner from a little over 20 yards, a goal that sent the visiting fans at the other end of the stadium into a state of delirium.

To their credit, United did not fold, however, and enjoyed their best spell of the game after falling behind, Dorgu having a shot blocked by Yeray Alvarez then playing a brilliant ball for Alejandro Garnacho to race clear, only for the youngster to chip an effort over the keeper and wide of the goal.

There was a reminder of the jeopardy United still faced when Gomez wasted a promising chance, in first half injury-time, by firing straight at Onana, and the visitors began the second half with a step-up in intensity.

It helped that they were attacking the end where their irrepressible support was massed, and winger Djalo looked particularly threatening on the right. Berenguer almost played Djalo clean through, and Djalo almost did the same for Gomez, but the clock was against Bilbao, and very much in United’s favour as they counted down the minutes to the final.

Still, it was nervous stuff, as so much of United’s football has been under Amorim, and the home manager responded by throwing on experienced Luke Shaw and Mount and winger Amad Diallo, to try and stem the tide.

It seemed as if the visitors were putting in one last push for a second goal that would, surely, have panicked United, players and supporters, alike. Djalo skied a shot high over the ball, Unai Nunez’s header drifted just wide and Aingeru Olabarrieta shot wide with an ambitious long-range hit – the last serious throw of the dice from the visitors.