Ruben Amorim has witnessed too much madness at Manchester United since becoming head coach six months ago to take a place in the Europa League final for granted tomorrow night.
United hold a commanding 3-0 lead over Athletic Bilbao from the first leg in Spain, but it’s only three weeks since Lyon scored four goals at Old Trafford in a chaotic quarter-final.
No wonder Amorim sounded concerned today about a team with a tendency to ‘lose our minds’ as he admitted that he doesn’t know which United will turn up.
History is heavily in their favour. Of the 133 teams in the history of the Europa League – or, previously, the UEFA Cup – who have won the first leg of a knockout stage tie away from home by three or more goals, all of them have progressed.
The odds of Bilbao turning it around are 25/1, and the Basques flew into Manchester today without injured dangermen Nico and Inaki Williams who have joined top scorer Oihan Sancet on the sidelines.
Dani Vivian is also suspended after he was sent off in the penalty incident that swung the tie in United’s favour last week.
Manchester United hold a commanding 3-0 lead over Athletic Bilbao from the first leg in Spain
Harry Maguire was widely praised for his impressive attacking antics in the first leg last week
Manchester United are languishing in 15th place in the Premier League after defeat to Brentford
However, none of this will make Amorim sleep more soundly. He believes a team languishing 15th in the Premier League after a 4-3 defeat at Brentford on Sunday need the insurance of a fourth goal.
‘If you look at our season, anything is possible,’ he said. ‘We have to understand one goal can change anything: the momentum of the game, one sending-off. You saw it a week ago. Then at Brentford, we are near a draw and we suffer a goal and another one.
‘Some teams control the narrative. We cannot do that. I feel we need to score to go to the next round. We will have to suffer a bit to go to the final, and we are ready to suffer.
‘If you look at our team, we cannot say today what is going to happen. Sometimes during the game, we are one team and then we lose our mind a little bit.
‘Since I arrived, we are one of the worst teams in the Premier League in terms of results. At the of the season, we can be the worst team in Premier League history with a European title.’
Bilbao certainly haven’t given up hope and, in Ernesto Valverde, they have a coach with first-hand experience of second-leg collapses.
Valverde was manager of Barcelona when they went out of the latter stages of the Champions League in 2018 and 2019 after building three-goal leads against Roma and Liverpool. The 61-year-old hopes to be on the other side of the equation tomorrow night.
‘We’re not giving anything up despite knowing that we have a very unfavourable result,’ said Valverde.
Since scoring twice at the San Mames last week, United captain Bruno Fernandes has been linked with a move to Al-Hilal after it emerged that the Saudi Pro League club have offered him a three-year deal worth close to £200million following talks with his representatives.
Garnacho said he wants to stay at United this summer amid interest from Chelsea and Napoli
It’s only three weeks since Lyon scored four goals at Old Trafford in a chaotic quarter-final
‘It’s normal that a lot of clubs want a player like Bruno. He is a leader, he’s the captain, so he’s really important,’ said Amorim.
‘But we want to keep the best players, and Bruno is clearly one of the top players in the world, so our idea didn’t change. We want Bruno here.’
Alejandro Garnacho, sat alongside Amorim at today’s press conference, was also asked about his future amid talk of a £70m move to Chelsea or Napoli this summer.
‘I have a contract here until 2028 so I’m happy here,’ said Garnacho who has overcome a shaky start under Amorim to be one of United’s most consistent performers.
‘November and December were very difficult for me, but my mentality is to keep working, to keep trying and show to the manager and staff I have to play.’
