Ruben Amorim really had no other option. The only message he could give to his players after one of the most resounding away wins not only of his short time in charge but of Manchester United’s long European history was to warn against complacency.
“I think they have to think about the second leg, and more about the first 20 minutes (of this first leg) than the rest of the game,” he said.
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That was sensible. More than sensible. Athletic Club ran United ragged in that opening period of this Europa League semi-final, twice coming close to going ahead, and only properly fell apart once reduced to 10 men.
Sendings-off change games but rarely has a red card spun the dynamic of a match on its axis as Dani Vivian’s did here.
But do you really need to be sensible when you are 3-0 up with a home leg to play? Indulge us for a minute as we list the reasons why, surely, not even this season’s United can fail to reach a European final from this position. Because for starters, history would suggest not.
United became the 134th side to win the first leg of a UEFA Cup or Europa League knock-out stage tie by three or more goals away from home. The previous 133 all progressed to the next round. Even if some among that number will have benefited from the now-defunct away goals rule, you have to like those odds.
Especially as United are still, implausibly, the only side anywhere on the continent to be unbeaten in European competition this season, a streak that has now run to 13 games.
In fact, their record at Old Trafford in this competition is one step away from perfection — five wins and a draw from six games, last failing to win in September against FC Twente. Back then, Erik ten Hag was manager, the staff lunch in the Carrington canteen was more than just soup and sandwiches, and Harry Maguire was just a centre-back.
Maguire is another reason, actually, and not only because of his transformation into Mosborough’s answer to Stanley Matthews, a fortnight after scoring what will be remembered as an iconic European goal while playing as a centre-forward.
Harry Maguire shone in an unusual position in Bilbao (Clive Brunskill/Getty Images)
It is often overlooked just how young Amorim’s squad is — the sixth-youngest in the Premier League this season — with a lot of minutes going to the likes of Alejandro Garnacho and Rasmus Hojlund, in high-pressure roles where output is everything and confidence can be torn to pieces.
This was a night to appreciate the more experienced older guard that is guiding United’s next raw, uncertain generation through one of the most testing seasons in the club’s modern history.
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Maguire’s drop of the shoulder and spin away from Athletic’s Mikel Jauregizar on the right wing to cross and set up United’s first of the night was the defining image of the evening, but his marshalling of the three-man defence alongside Leny Yoro to his left and what remains of Victor Lindelof to his right was a large part of how United stayed level during those early stages.
Another over-30, Bruno Fernandes, was as inspired and inspiring as he has been for months now, not only coolly converting the penalty that precipitated Athletic’s collapse, but also United’s well-crafted third.
He and Maguire — two surviving veterans of United’s last Europa League campaign to reach this stage — feel like they are channelling the disappointment of that near miss through these knock-out ties.
Arguably United’s best player on the night though was their oldest and most decorated in European football. Casemiro was close to faultless, which is remarkable given he was not even close to coming on as a substitute a few months ago when Amorim’s side were rounding off the group stages.
It was not only his movement unmarked at the far post to convert Manuel Ugarte’s flick-on from that Maguire cross, but the command and control he exuded in the middle of the park once Bilbao had been broken, staving off any threat of a 10-man comeback.
Through Casemiro, United rendered the second half sedate enough to allow Amad and Matthijs de Ligt minutes on return from their respective ankle injuries. Amad’s return, in particular, could barely come at a better time with Diogo Dalot’s calf injury putting his involvement again this season at risk.
Others like Mason Mount and Luke Shaw continued to be eased back in as well and — though there are still several notable absentees — United’s bench now carries the strength in depth capable of both winning and seeing out games, which has not always been the case this term.
That, too, is cause for optimism of a strong finish, and another reason to believe that this tie is as good as over.
Bruno Fernandes was his usual cool self from the penalty spot (Clive Brunskill/Getty Images)
But this is getting dangerously close to writing Ernesto Valverde’s team talk for him. Yes, there was always going to be a caveat coming, just so we can pass the buck if the unthinkable has happened a week from now: and that is we are still talking about this season’s United.
This is a team that scored six goals in 51 Europa League minutes across the second leg against Lyon and this first leg in Bilbao — as many as they have in their last seven Premier League games combined.
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After qualifying for this competition through the back door by finishing eighth but winning the FA Cup, there is now a fair possibility that they qualify for the Champions League while finishing 17th, maybe even by beating the 16th-placed team in the process.
And again, to be clear: Maguire is apparently a winger now.
Very little about any of this makes sense.
If there is one constant, it is that everything about United this season on and off the pitch feels vulnerable to some violent convulsion at any moment, a swing up or down in fortune, a sudden turn of events just like the one witnessed by San Mames in this semi-final.
Amorim understands that. To a question about Maguire’s turnaround from maligned figure to mainstay, he related it to what he had just witnessed. “It is not just Harry, the history of this game can tell you that. It looks like you are struggling a lot and then everything changes.”
If 133 sides have previously managed to protect a lead of three or more goals without fail, then Amorim’s side should really become the 134th. But this was, yet again, a night to prove that you should never be sure of what to expect from this United.
(Top photo: Ash Donelon/Manchester United via Getty Images)
