Athletic Bilbao 0-3 Man Utd (Vivian red card 35′ | Casemiro 30′, Fernandes 37′ pen, 45′)
SAN MAMES — Bilbao’s famous Guggenheim museum houses some of the more bizarre contemporary art you can feast your eyes on.
Nothing Jackson Pollock could create was as curious as what Manchester United painted just down the Nervion River on a European night as great anything in this storied football club’s recent history.
In a competition United must win, for multiple reasons, travelling supporters feared the worst as their team faced their first real test of their Europea League credentials in Bilbao, with Athletic sitting fourth in La Liga and possessing the meanest defence in the Spanish top flight.
Athletic promised to make the atmosphere akin to Galatasaray’s “Welcome to Hell” night pre-match, with the deafening noise perfect for another United European disasterclass.
MAN UNITED TAKE THE LEAD!
Casemiro opens the scoring after some excellent footwork from Harry Maguire
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Three first-half goals later, sealing a remarkable United victory and likely putting the entire semi-final tie to bed, ensured it was home supporters in the doldrums.
United’s miserable season remarkably remains on course for the happiest of endings.
The city of Bilbao was an awe-inspiring sight in the run-up to the match – a football romanticist’s utopia.
And that devotion oozed out of supporters once inside their stunning stadium, passion palpable wherever you looked.
Such a feeling lives within the players, too – how else do you explain how a team who can only choose players from a population size similar to Wales keep punching above their weight, year after year?
Man of the match: Casemiro
- What a renaissance the Brazilian is having. Controlled the game and deserved his goal.
How quickly moods can change in football, however.
By half-time, supporters slumped in their seats, vacant looks adorning their faces, dreams of a first-ever European trophy in complete and utter ruins.
The hosts had the better of the early chances. Inaki Williams should have scored from a close range header, while Victor Lindelof came to United’s rescue with a timely block on the line.
Casemiro’s Indian summer knows no bounds, with his back-post finish on the half hour mark exactly what his warrior-like first-half performance warranted.
The veteran Brazilian, who we all thought was done, was running proceedings. The momentum completely shifted. Just as tempers in the stands were about to boil over.
After consulting the pitch-side monitor, Norwegian referee Espen Eskas earned his place on the Basque Country blacklist for all eternity as not only did he award United a penalty, but he brandished a red card in the direction of furious Bilbao defender Daniel Vivian.
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The composure showed by Bruno Fernandes as he calmly stroked home the penalty, despite the ear-splitting whistles from the crowd, was astounding.
The fact, two minutes later, the United skipper put the tie to bed before half-time in the first leg, was just dumbfounding.
To add to the frivolity, Ruben Amorim’s side have now scored more goals in their seven Europa League games in 2025 than they have in their 15 Premier League games this calendar year.
In the second half, with Bilbao heads gone, United could sit back and see out an away win nobody saw coming, and do it in second gear, saving energy for next week’s return leg.
Casemiro could have added a fourth, but saw his second-half header come off the post. Now that really would have been silly.
Home supporters waved white pieces of people as more refereeing decisions went against their side. A dream final, in their own stadium, up in smoke. And it is this excuse of a United side who started the fire.
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