Manchester United manager Ruben Amorim told his players that they are not in the Europa League final yet after a famous 3-0 win at 10-man Athletic Bilbao.
United look well set for a return to Bilbao’s San Mames stadium for the final in three weeks time against Bodo/Glimt or Tottenham after a Casemiro header and a double from captain Bruno Fernandes put them in complete control of the semi-final.
But the manager warned that the job was not yet done.
“I think they have to think about the second leg,” Amorim said of his message to United’s players.
“And they have to think more about the first 20 minutes than the rest of the game because the game is going to be really tough.
“There is no away goals so anything can change and that is my message to the players, and we have to think now about Brentford and then the second leg.”
DREAMLAND FOR MAN UNITED!
Bruno Fernandes has scored two goals in seven minutes ⏰
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Asked if that was United’s best performance since taking charge in November, the United head coach said: “No, I think it is the best result because nobody expected this result.
“But, again, I think you saw two games today – the first 25 minutes and then after the goal, and also with the sending off the game changed.
“That was a good thing, also a good thing in the second half was we tried to be cautious.
“We create chances but the most important thing is that the opponent didn’t get many shots to our goal and that was really important.”
United, or Tottenham, could still qualify for the Champions League by winning the Europa League, despite dreadful league seasons.
United go into the weekend in 14th place in the Premier League, with Spurs 16th.
MAN UNITED TAKE THE LEAD!
Casemiro opens the scoring after some excellent footwork from Harry Maguire 🎯
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“It’s hard to explain,” Amorim said of the difference to Europe, where they remain unbeaten. “We improve in the last games. I don’t look just to the results.
“We had some games that we won that we didn’t play well and some games that we lost but we played well. Sometimes you just need a little bit luck.
“If you imagine the first 30 minutes, they have chances to score. If they score, it’s a different game so we need to understand these moments.
“When we score, we felt more and more free to play, so I know that that is hard. It’s a different competition.
“I know that is hard to understand, but sometimes it’s the context, it’s the way we see things.
“We can win this competition and in the Premier League we are just suffering game after game, so try to manage both things with some injuries. Sometimes it’s harder even for the players.”
