Man United are one game away from another European final following an unexpectedly routine and emphatic 3-0 win at Athletic Bilbao.
Ruben Amorim hailed Harry Maguire as an example to Manchester United players after his influential role in their 3-0 Europa League victory over Athletic Bilbao.
United defied widespread expectations to win comfortably against ten-man Athletic and Maguire had another major impact in the final third as his cross was nodded on by Manuel Ugarte and steered in by Casemiro for the opening goal.
That sparked a 15-minute goal glut from United, who struck twice more through Bruno Fernandes before half-time to effectively seal victory in the first leg.
Maguire was stripped of the captaincy in July 2023 and a transfer to West Ham United collapsed later that summer but he has re-emerged as one of the team’s most important players under Amorim.
“I think it is a good lesson for all the players that sometimes you have some moments that you think that I will never recover from this or that,” Amorim said. “Anything can happen.
“It is not just Harry. The history of this game can tell you that. It looks like we are struggling a lot and then everything changes and everyone says it’s maybe the best game of the season. We have to understand the players have some moments in their life, just continue to work and that everything can change.
“They (Maguire, Casemiro and Fernandes) have to step up in this moment. They are experienced, they are international players, they have already played this moment, they have to step up in this moment. That is why they are playing here, they are the most experienced players in this team. That is natural.”
Amorim rejected the suggestion it was United’s best performance under him as he referenced their unconvincing start at San Mames. Athletic winger Inaki Williams missed a gilt-edged chance and Victor Lindelof cleared off the line from Alex Berenguer as United struggled to impose themselves.
“I think they (the players) have to think about the second leg, and think more about the first 20 minutes than the rest of the game,” Amorim added. “Because the game is going to be really tough. There is no goals away so anything can change and that is my message to the players. We have to think about Brentford now and then for the second leg.
“I think it is the best result because nobody expected this result. You saw two games today. The first 25 minutes and then after the goal and also with the sending off, the game changed. A good thing with the second half is we tried to be cautious, we tried to create chances but the most important is after the opponent didn’t get many shots on our goal.”
United have scored 15 goals in their five knockout games, in stark contrast to their Premier League form in front of goal. United have a -8 goal difference and have mustered 12 goals in their last 12 league fixtures.
“I think it is hard to explain,” Amorim reiterated. “We improve in the last games, I don’t look just to the results. We had some games that we won that we didn’t play well and some games we lost and played well.
“Sometimes you need a little bit of luck. You imagine the first 30 minutes they had some chances to score and didn’t. When we score we felt more free to play.
“I know that is hard to understand but sometimes it is the context, the way we see things.”
