Ruben Amorim solves Athletic problem with super subs to send Man Utd into Europa League final | OneFootball

Ruben Amorim had wondered which Manchester United would show up. Two did, the bad followed by the good, the insipid followed by the inspired. The side who could misplace simple passes followed by the team who finished with the flourish of a wonder goal by Mason Mount from 50 yards. When United looked to be stumbling and bumbling their way into the Europa League final, they instead surged into it, Mount borrowing from Beckham when they could have been buried by Athletic Bilbao. Amorim’s schizophrenic side could yet end a historically bad season on a genuine high, with a trophy and a return to the Champions League. Only Tottenham, who have beaten them three teams this season but are even lower in the domestic table, can stop them. “It would be massive especially after this season in the Premier League,” Amorim said. Their Europa League has been different. Even when Athletic threatened a comeback that might have been outlandish even for the watching Sir Alex Ferguson, United had a couple of trump cards to play. A man who set up the winner in a Champions League final took them to the Europa League showpiece. Mount’s belated first Old Trafford goal, almost two years into his United career, cancelled out Athletic’s lead. A £55m signing’s long-range finish into an empty net in injury time meant he doubled his tally for the club in one, devastating cameo. “Sometimes you are on the bench but you can change the game,” reflected Amorim. Amad Diallo was unleashed with him and he set up Rasmus Hojlund for the simplest of finishes.Meanwhile, Casemiro, who had headed United into a lead in the San Mames last week, had repeated the feat, stooping to meet Bruno Fernandes’ free kick. After scoring three goals in 15 minutes in San Mames, United mustered four in 19 at Old Trafford.

And yet Athletic Bilbao, like Lyon before them, had led at Old Trafford. United retain their status as the only unbeaten side in all three European competitions this season but they keep flirting with defeat. “We did quite well in Europe but we struggle a lot in Premier League,” mused Amorim.

At times, they justified his lowly pre-match billing of his side. For much of the match, they seemed to prove him right. “We have so many weaknesses,” he sighed. The side he said can lose their minds threatened to lose the game. Had Bilbao got the second goal they almost conjured, there may have been a wider loss of composure.

“I should be a better manager in this moment,” said Amorim, assessing his initial impact at Old Trafford. He nevertheless merits credit for United’s rousing finish. The second half was one-way traffic until he introduced Luke Shaw, Amad and Mount, while moving Fernandes back into midfield. “When you have a full squad, you can think about the game,” Amorim said. It was a strength in depth Athletic lacked. It brought an emphatic turnaround.

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Athletic Club’s Mikel Jauregizar scores their side's first-half goal (PA)

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Jauregizar celebrates after giving Athletic hope (Getty Images)

"The tie wasn't a walk in the park for United in either the first or second leg; it was much more even than the scoreline suggests,” lamented Athletic manager Ernesto Valverde. He had a point. “if you look at both games, it was so much tougher than just the result,” Amorim accepted. The glory belonged to the losers, the sense a depleted group mounted a heroic effort. A club whose budget is dwarfed by United’s were without their four best players, the suspended defender Dani Vivian and three injured attackers in Oihan Sancet and Inaki and Nico Williams. For an hour, Athletic were relentless.Valverde has his own traumatic experience of 3-0 first-leg leads in European semi-finals: his Barcelona then lost 4-0 at Anfield in 2019. His search for a cathartic remontada ended with another of his sides conceding four in England.

Yet it had begun better. Just Mikel Jaureguizar’s third goal for Athletic was a special strike, a magnificent curler from 20 yards nestled in the top corner. United were culpable, Harry Maguire giving the ball away to Unai Nunez; after creating a goal with his unexpectedly slick skills on the right wing last week, Maguire redressed the balance with slack play on the edge of his own box.

The scoreline suggests otherwise, but the glory belonged to the losers, the sense that a depleted group mounted a heroic effort. A club whose budget is dwarfed by United’s were without their four best players: the suspended defender Dani Vivian and three injured attackers in Oihan Sancet and Inaki and Nico Williams. For an hour, Athletic were relentless.

Ernesto Valverde has his own traumatic experience of 3-0 first-leg leads in European semi-finals: his Barcelona then lost 4-0 at Anfield in 2019. His search for a cathartic remontada ended with another of his sides conceding four in England.

Yet it had begun better. Just Mikel Jaureguizar’s third goal for Athletic was a special strike, a magnificent curler from 20 yards nestled in the top corner. United were culpable, Harry Maguire giving the ball away to Unai Nunez. After creating a goal with his unexpectedly slick skills on the right wing last week, Maguire redressed the balance with slack play on the edge of his own box. For a moment, United may have wished he was still masquerading as a right winger.

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Manchester United’s Mason Mount scored twice in the win over Athletic Club (Martin Rickett/PA)

Meanwhile, United had begun camped behind the ball, too passive, too error-prone and, when given the opportunities to counter-attack, missing the delivery, or the touch, or the timing of the run. When they got all three, Patrick Dorgu delivering a defence-splitting pass in an otherwise erratic display, Alejandro Garnacho dinked a shot wide.

But, for all their many failings, this United side have shown a capacity to mount comebacks. This comeback revolved around Mount as Amorim turned problem solver. The former Chelsea man produced a deft turn before curling a shot into the net. His second was glorious, latching on to a poor pass from Julen Aguirrezabala, which left the goalkeeper stranded outside his box, to find the empty net.

Over the two legs, Fernandes and Casemiro made the biggest contributions to taking United on, scoring two goals apiece, and they combined for their second on the night. Hojlund, who had looked out of sorts, was given a tap-in.

Once again, it felt cruel for Athletic. Their hopes of a hometown final felt extinguished last week, but neither the spirited players or the vocal fans showed it. The raucous Bilbao supporters had travelled in their thousands, but there will be a Mancunian invasion of the Basque country later this month for the final. “If you don’t win it, it is nothing,” said Amorim.

The temptation is to say that United will need to play rather better on their return to the San Mames than they did in the first hour here. Although, as they are facing Tottenham, maybe they won’t.