Nico Williams fires Man Utd warning ahead of Europa League decider | OneFootball

Athletic Club forwards Nico and Inaki Williams have both insisted that they are capable of knocking Manchester United out of the Europa League despite trailing the Premier League outfit by three goals heading into Thursday's semi-final second leg.

The Basque giants had lost one game in front of their vociferous support since August before United strolled into San Mames last week. Inaki Williams steered a close-range header narrowly over the crossbar before United took control.

Casemiro fired the visitors in front on the half-hour mark while one tussle from Dani Vivian swung the tie emphatically in United's favour. The Athletic centre-back was penalised for tangling with Alejandro Garnacho, giving away a penalty and collecting a red card. Bruno Fernandes converted the spot kick and added a third before the half-time interval.

"We weren't very sharp, there's no need to make excuses," Nico Williams conceded, but he hasn't given up hope. "We're 3-0 down, but we're capable of overcoming that. We've already seen that Lyon gave them problems at home and we're going to try and do the same. The work of the entire season speaks for itself. We're in the final stretch of our dream. Our fans have always supported us and we're going to give it our all."

United did trail 4-2 at home to Lyon at one point during their Europa League quarter-final second leg before scoring three goals in the final six minutes.

Inaki echoed the sentiment of his younger brother. "We are capable of coming back," the forward insisted. Williams also pointed to the divisive refereeing decisions which went against Athletic on the night.

"There are some plays that raise doubts," he huffed. "The play before the penalty comes from a handball by Garnacho, which the referee doesn't see. It's a struggle between Vivian and him. At the slightest contact, he goes down, and it's unfortunate that he called it."

United prepared for Thursday's decisive tie by racking up their 16th Premier League defeat of the season away to Brentford. Ruben Amorim's side have been in dire domestic form but are unbeaten in the Europa League this term and have won their last five European ties at Old Trafford.