Athletic Club 0-3 Manchester United: Ruben Amorim wary of Bilbao fightback at Old Trafford despite significant lead
Manchester United head coach Ruben Amorim said that his team’s tie versus Athletic Club is not done because the same result that happened at Bilbao can happen at Old Trafford.
United defeated Athletic Club 3-0 at the San Mames stadium in Bilbao, but the caveat is that Athletic were one-man down for over an hour.
United had the ball in the net within five minutes of play but Garnacho was adjudged to have been offside. After that, Bilbao piled on pressure and had several dangerous attempts on goal, although United averaged 65 per cent possession.
However, Casemiro’s header from a Harry Maguire cross broke the deadlock after half an hour, followed by two goals from Bruno Fernandes. The turning point in the tie was when Athletic’s Daniel Vivian received a red card shortly after Casemiro’s goal. With the Spanish side 2-0 down with ten players, they could do very little and United became more assured defensively.
In the second half, Amorim’s side were not committed enough in attack to add to their tally. But the 40-year-old seemed satisfied with that, saying that his team “tried to be cautious” and that the most important thing was that “the opponent didn’t get many shots on our goal”.
Asked what message he had for his players ahead of the return leg at Old Trafford, the Portuguese said: “They have to think about the second leg. They have to think more about the first 20 minutes than the rest of the game, because the game is going to very tough.
“There is no away goal advantage, so anything can change. And that is my message to the players, we have to think now about Brentford and then for the second leg.”
