Manchester Utd vs Ath Bilbao prediction: EUROPE: Europa League – Play Offs betting tips on match 2025-05-07 19:00.
[p]Lifting the UEFA Europa League (UEL) has been a distant shining light at the end of the dark tunnel that is Manchester United’s season, and the Red Devils are now within touching distance of the final. Ruben Amorim’s men dispatched Athletic Club 3-0 at San MamĂ©s – the ground which will also host the final – in the first leg of this semi-final to give them a huge advantage in the return fixture.[/p]
[p]This United team have become accustomed to doing things the hard way in Europe despite remaining unbeaten this term (W8, D5), so the Old Trafford faithful are unlikely to be relaxed here despite the comfortable margin. They conceded four in a 4-3 defeat to Brentford at the weekend, and all five previous meetings with Athletic produced at least three goals, so there’s good reason for trepidation, but United at least boast a 100% progression record on the 20 previous occasions they’ve won the away first leg in a UEFA knockout tie.[/p]
[p]The odds are therefore stacked heavily against Athletic, who were unable to live up to the expectations of a vociferous home crowd last Thursday and were then held to a 0-0 draw at Basque rivals Real Sociedad at the weekend. Ernesto Valverde’s men travel to Manchester having failed to win their last three UEL away matches (D1, L2), while they’ve also lost seven of their previous nine away matches against English opposition (W1, D1).[/p]
[p]The one victory therein did come on this ground in the UEL en route to the final back in 2012, but a more realistic target may perhaps be avoiding losing both legs of a UEFA knockout tie for just the third time ever. That’s perhaps as good as it’ll get for them considering that only once before across all major European competitions has a side lost the first leg at home by 3+ goals and progressed to the next round![/p]
[p]Players to watch: Rested at the weekend, United captain Bruno Fernandes should be raring to go having directly contributed to seven goals in five UEL knockout matches this season (G6, A1). Athletic stalwart Iñaki Williams has netted his side’s first goal on all four of his UEL scoring appearances this term, three of which came on the road.[/p]
[p]Hot stat: Eight of Manchester United’s last nine UEL home games saw both teams score, including all four meetings with Spanish opposition in that time.[/p]
[p][i]Written by Ryan Fisher[/i][/p]