Bruno Fernandes led Manchester United to a surprising 3-0 victory over 10-man Athletic Bilbao within the first leg of their Europa League semi-final conflict on Thursday.
Fernandes scored twice in a superb first-half show that noticed Dani Vivian despatched off within the thirty fifth minute following the denial of a goal-scoring alternative in opposition to Rasmus Hojlund.
United thought that they had taken the lead within the fifth minute by way of Alejandro Garnacho, however his close-range end was dominated out offside, a call confirmed by VAR.
The hosts, nevertheless, responded shortly, with Alex Berenguer testing Andre Onana from distance earlier than Inaki Williams headed over the crossbar from contained in the penalty space.
Berenguer then had an effort cleared off the road by Victor Lindelof. Regardless of their stress, Ruben Amorim’s crew took the lead on the half-hour mark by way of Casemiro.
Harry Maguire’s weaving run on the fitting ended with a cross into the field that was flicked to the again put up by Manuel Ugarte, with Casemiro available to go the ball dwelling.
It bought even higher for United 4 minutes later when Vivian was handed a straight pink card following a pull on Hojlund as he seemed to attain from six yards out.
Referee Espen Eskas had initially waved play on, however was despatched to the monitor to evaluate his resolution. Fernandes stepped as much as coolly dispatch the ensuing spot-kick.
Fernandes then doubled his tally on the stroke of half-time, accumulating Ugarte’s neat backheel earlier than slotting previous Julen Agirrezabala to place United right into a commanding place.
It might, nevertheless, have been even higher when Noussair Mazraoui crashed an effort in opposition to the crossbar in first-half stoppage time.
19 – Manchester United have scored extra targets of their seven UEFA Europa League video games in 2025 (19) than they’ve of their 15 Premier League video games this calendar yr (18). Priorities. pic.twitter.com/l808EfeImJ
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) Might 1, 2025
United continued to dominate after the break, with Casemiro going near grabbing his second header of the match, solely to be denied by the close to put up from Fernandes’ nook.
Fernandes then examined Agirrezabala from distance within the closing levels, with the guests proscribing their opponents to little or no going ahead to see out a effective victory.
The Europa League ultimate is at Bilbao’s San Mames stadium subsequent month, with United taking an enormous leap in direction of returning to Spain for the showpiece match on Might 21.
Knowledge Debrief: Main by instance
United captain Fernandes has been a shining gentle in a disappointing season for the Purple Devils, together with his shows maybe having the ability to salvage one thing in Europe this yr.
Solely Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (34) and Radamel Falcao (30) have scored extra targets within the Europa League than Fernandes (27, stage with Romelu Lukaku).
As well as, solely Mohamed Salah (56) has extra objective contributions for Premier League golf equipment in all competitions this season than Fernandes (35 – 19 targets and 16 assists).
And United have been worthy of their win, ending the match with an anticipated targets (xG) whole of two.58 from their 14 pictures to their opponents’ 0.98 from their 9 makes an attempt.
It additionally prolonged their unbeaten streak to 13 video games within the Europa League. They final had an extended such run between November 2016 and November 2019 (a run of 15).
