How to watch Athletic Bilbao v Man Utd, team news, pre-match quotes, predicted line-ups and more | OneFootball

Manchester United travel to Spain to face Athletic Bilbao in the first leg of their Europa League semi-final tonight.

The two sides have met each other once before, in the Europa League round of 16 back in 2012. Bilbao produced a stunning performance, defeating Sir Alex Ferguson’s United in both legs. Interestingly, a 22-year-old Oscar de Marcos scored in both legs of that tie for the Basque side. Now 36 he is still with the team and is Bilbao’s club captain.

United will be hoping for a better result this time around in the San Mames stadium. Despite their Premier League struggles, the Reds remain unbeaten in Europe and are desperate to lift the trophy.

Here’s what you need to know ahead of the clash…

Kick-off time

8pm BST

How to watch in the UK

TNT Sports 1 or streaming on Discovery+

Injuries and doubts

Bilbao: Oihan Sancet (out)

Bilbao are without key player Oihan Sancet tonight. The midfielder has 15 La Liga goals this season and scored the decisive goal in Bilbao’s quarter-final. However he was forced off after 22 minutes with a muscle injury in Bilbao’s most recent match.

United: Lisandro Martinez (out), Diogo Dalot (out), Joshua Zirkzee (out), Toby Collyer (out), Amad Diallo (doubt), Mathijs de Ligt (doubt)

United have been handed a huge boost as both Amad Diallo and Mathijs De Ligt returned to full team training ahead of the match. It is unclear how much involvement they will have but they are two important players in Ruben Amorim’s side.

Predicted line-ups

Athletic Bilbao (4-2-3-1): Simon; de Marcos, Vivian, Alvarez, Berchiche; Jauregizar, Ruiz de Galarreta; William, Berenguer, Williams; Guruzeta

Man United (3-4–2-1): Onana; Shaw, Maguire, Yoro; Mazraoui, Casemiro, Ugarte, Dorgu; Fernandes, Garnacho; Hojlund

Recent form

Bilbao are enjoying a successful campaign in La Liga and they are on course for their best league finish in a decade. Nobody has lost fewer games than the Basque side although they are in fourth place behind Barcelona and the two Madrid teams. After finishing second in the league phase, they have beaten Roma and Rangers on their way to this Europa League semi-final.

United have continued to be awful in the Premier League. In five months, Ruben Amorim has recorded just three wins against sides outside of the bottom three. Despite this, the Reds have excelled in Europe where they have remained unbeaten. They defeated Bilbao’s fierce Basque rivals Real Sociedad, before a crazy comeback against Lyon earned them a place in the semi-final.

What’s been said?

United boss Ruben Amorim declared: “We know nothing is going to save our season but this can be huge. Winning a trophy, getting in the Champions League to play European games next year could change a lot of things in our club in the summer.

“Maybe you can say it’s not fair because the best teams, the champions, should be in the Champions League. But you have this competition to give value to this competition, it’s like one cup in our league. If you win the cup you go to European games. It’s the rules.”

United midfielder Manuel Ugarte added: “The history of Man United is written with titles. That is why we are focused very much on tomorrow to be able to play in the Champions League next season. All together, we are going to try and win.”

Bilbao manager Ernesto Valverde insisted: “They are a big team and have big capabilities. If you focus on one thing you forget about the others.”