Manchester United again challenged its first league form in European competition when they faced a 3-0 victory against the athletics club during their semi-final of the Europa League at the first stage of their home on Thursday. In a noisy atmosphere of memes of San, with supporters dreaming of a very first European trophy, the veteran midfielder Casemiro arrived at the back post to give visitors the head of 30 minutes.
United, which has a miserable season at the national level, received another boost five minutes later while the defender of Bilbao, Daniel Vivian, was sent for having enroll the Rasmus Hojlund in the penalty zone and Bruno Fernandes converted the steam.
Fans of United High in the upper level were in the country of dreams a few moments later while Captain Fernandes crossed to put the seal on a victory, and perhaps even the tie, before the interval.
Bilbao, who has the additional incitement that the final will be organized in their own stadium on May 21, could not bring together an answer in the second period with exhausted numbers, leaving United to the coast of the most improbable success of first leg.
“Of course, this is an excellent start, to win a victory here and score three goals and with a white sheet,” defender United Harry Maguire told TNT Sports.
“All the pressure will be on us, everyone will expect us to pass. We have to prepare properly, and if we do it, we will give ourselves a great chance.
“One foot in the final, but it’s not done.”
The Europa League was a bit of a refuge for United this quarter, where they can forget the fact that they are on the right track for their worst Premier League points which transport this quarter. United went to Bilbao as the only unbeaten team in any European competition and has kept this label.
Amorim dumbfounded on the United Form in Europa
Manchester coach Ruben Amorim was stunned by his team’s screen because he did not explain the different seasons at national level and in European competition.
“It’s difficult to explain,” said Amorim. “We are improving in the last games. I don’t just look at the results. We had a few games that we won that we did not play well and some games that we lost, but we played well. Sometimes you just need a little luck.
“We can win this competition and in the Premier League, we only suffer from the match after the match and try to manage both things with injuries. Sometimes it’s more difficult even for players.
“I know it’s difficult to understand, but sometimes it’s the context, that’s how we see things.”
In Bilbao, United was against their most difficult challenge to date, the Basque Club was in fourth position in Laliga, having the most nasty defense of the division.
Bilbao players fed the energy of the crowd from the start, creating the best of initial chances. Inaki Williams should have scored with a blatant out-of-header header, while Victor Lindelof came to United from United with a timely block on the line.
Casemiro, Fernandes seal the agreement for United
Casemiro, however, arrived just at the time to swing the momentum in favor of United, the Norwegian referee Espen Eskas, after consulting the instructor on the pitch side, judged Vivian had denied Hojlund a clear scorer opportunity and therefore marked a red box and pointed on the spot.
The composure shown by Bruno Fernandes while he was calmly caressing the penalty, despite the whistles of the Acaurian crowd, was amazing. The whistles had barely passed when the united skipper ran to Manuel Ugarte’s film to add a third game.
To highlight the contrast between the national and continental campaigns of United, they have now scored more goals during their seven games in the Europa League in 2025 than to their 15 Premier League games this calendar year.
They also won more matches in the Europa League from Ruben Amorim as a coach than in the Premier League.
Man Utd and Tottenham claim solid victories at first glance 👏
Performance of the week? 🌟#AuelPotW
– UEFA Europa League (@europaleague) May 1, 2025
Casemiro could even have added a fourth, but saw his head in the second half leaving the post.
However, the work was done. United’s success means that 133 teams have won the first leg of a UEFA cup or equally at the Europa League stadium by three or more goals and the 133 won the draw.
“The penalty and the red card conditioned the match. At 11 against 11, we were fine,” said Bilbao coach Ernesto Valverde. “The penalty and the red card were too much punishment.
“It is very clear that we have taken a very bad result in the second match, but we have to play it. We do not give up. We know that it is an unfavorable situation and which we have in front of us.”
With agency entries
