Big wins on Thursday for Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur in the first leg of the UEFA Europa League semi-finals kept alive their hopes of lifting a major trophy and qualifying for the UEFA Champions League.
United beat Athletic Bilbao 3-0 at the San Mames in Spain, while Tottenham won 3-1 at home against Norwegian club Bodo/Glimt.
United and Spurs have endured miserable domestic campaigns and are languishing in the bottom half of the Premier League, but European club soccer’s second-tier Europa League could yet see one of them salvage their season.
Photo: Reuters
Not only is silverware on the line, but so is an unlikely route to the lucrative Champions League as the prize for winning the competition.
United produced possibly their finest performance of the season to take a commanding first-leg lead against 10-man Bilbao.
Casemiro headed Ruben Amorim’s team in front in the 30th minute after a cross from Harry Maguire.
Photo: AFP
It was 2-0 seven minutes later when Rasmus Hojlund was brought down in the box by Dani Vivian and a penalty was awarded after a video review. Vivian was shown a red card for the foul and Bruno Fernandes converted from the penalty spot.
Fernandes got his second and United’s third in the 45th minute when he ran through on goal and curled a shot past goalkeeper Julen Agirrezabala.
The United captain has now scored 19 goals and provided 16 assists in all competitions this season.
According statistics provider Opta, Liverpool’s Mohamed Salah is the only Premier League player to have made more goal contributions this term with 56.
“I want to score goals, I want to be involved. I know one of my qualities is getting goals and making assists, so I just need to keep going,” Fernandes said.
United’s win could have been even more emphatic with Noussair Mazraoui and Casemiro both hitting the woodwork.
The second leg is scheduled for Old Trafford on Thursday next week and United are potentially just 90 minutes away from returning to Bilbao, which is to host the final on May 21.
The run in Europe is in stark contrast to United’s terrible domestic form, which will see them end the season with a club-record-low points total and their lowest position in the Premier League era.
Sitting 14th in the standings, United have never looked likely to challenge for Champions League qualification through their league placing, but they have saved some spectacular performances for the Europa League — including an epic comeback against Olympique Lyonnais in the quarter-finals, rallying from 4-2 down in extra-time to win 5-4.
However, Amorim warned against complacency in the second leg.
“They [Bilbao] can do the same thing in Old Trafford, because they are really strong, they are really intense,” he said. “Of course, we are in the advantage. We have our fans, but again, this could change.”
Under-pressure Tottenham manager Ange Postecoglou could yet live up to his proclamation that he always wins a trophy in his second season.
That record — which was carried through with former clubs Brisbane Roar, Yokohama F Marinos and Celtic — has looked in serious jeopardy for much of a season that has seen Spurs lose 19 times in the league.
However, a 3-1 win against Bodo/Glimt at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium will fuel belief that Postecoglou could deliver the goods again.
Spurs were ahead inside a minute through Brennan Johnson and James Maddison doubled the lead in the 34th minute.
Dominic Solanke’s penalty in the 61st minute made it 3-0, but Ulrik Saltnes gave the Norwegian side hope ahead of next week’s return leg in Norway by pulling a goal back in the 83rd minute.
“I don’t think the scoreline reflects our dominance, but at the end of the first leg, all you want is to be in a good position and we’ve got ourselves into a good position,” Postecoglou said.
In other games, Chelsea beat Djurgarden 4-1 in Sweden and Real Betis Balompie won 2-1 against ACF Fiorentina.
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