Man Utd with one foot in the final | OneFootball

Manchester United's first half in Bilbao gave them a big chance of returning for a Europa League final later this month.

Athletic Club had looked the better of the two teams early on and probably would have had the lead if Victor Lindelöf hadn't made a crucial early block.

However, the visitors took the lead after Harry Maguire inexplicably showed the skill of a winger  on the right to put in a cross that Manuel Ugarte headed on with Casemiro getting the final touch to make it 1-0.

Then, with just over half an hour to go the Basque side found themselves down to 10 men and facing the prospect of a Manchester United penalty.

Norwegian referee Espen Eskås didn't initially see Dani Vivian pull Rasmus Højlund back to prevent him from getting onto the end of a low cross from the right. Instead VAR intervened and after the referee decided that he saw a foul he then had to send Vivian off for not even attempting to play the ball as he dragged the Dane back.

Bruno Fernandes stepped up and took no notice of the hostile San Mamés crowd as he sent goalkeeper Julen Agirrezabala to make it 2-0.

Things got even better just before the break when an incisive United attack saw Ugarte flick the ball on for Fernandes to add a third goal.

It could have been four, and potentially game over, when Noussair Mazraoui had a shot in first half stoppage time that bounced back off the crossbar.

The second half was the performance of a team happy to have a three-goal lead to take back to Old Trafford while Athletic Club struggled to create anything of note with just 10 men.

This game looked like it could be a difficult one for an inconsistent United team but this one couldn't have gone any better.