‘Amazing, magnificent’ – Man Utd hailed after statement Europa League win

Paul Scholes and Robbie Savage have praised Manchester United after they beat Athletic Club 3-0 away from home in the first leg of their Europa League semi-final.

Man Utd have one foot in the final after a brilliant performance in a rowdy San Mames stadium. Inaki Williams headed a great opportunity just over the bar in the 10th minute for the home side before Victor Lindelof cleared an Alex Berenguer shot off the line soon afterwards.

But some surprise attacking magic from quarter-final hero Harry Maguire helped United to take the lead half an hour in. The centre-back found himself out on the right wing and twisted and turned away from his marker before putting a dangerous cross into the box.

Manuel Ugarte flicked it on for an unmarked Casemiro at the back post, who made no mistake with his close-range finish.

United had a penalty five minutes later when Dani Vivian was sent off for dragging Rasmus Hojlund back and stopping him from reaching Noussair Mazraoui’s cross.

Bruno Fernandes stepped up to send the goalkeeper the wrong way and double United’s lead.

Fernandes made it 3-0 in the 45th minute when Ugarte played him through with a clever flick. The skipper finished confidently as United left the home fans stunned.

Mazraoui hit the crossbar with a powerful left-footed strike in first-half stoppage time as United piled on the pressure.

Alejandro Garnacho felt he should have had a penalty in the second half, while Casemiro headed onto the post as United saw out a statement victory.

At full time, Savage labelled United’s display ‘magnificent’ on commentary. In the TNT Sports studio, United legend Scholes said: “Amazing result. First half especially I thought they were really good. Obviously that sending off aided the victory.

“I still think second half they were sloppy at times. I think they could have managed the game a bit better, possibly could have gone for the fourth and fifth goals.

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Man Utd were ‘comfortable’ – Paul Scholes

“When you’re playing against 10 men you don’t give the other team a sniff of the ball. At times they did do that but overall, going there, we all thought it would be really tough… it was comfortable against 10 men.”

Scholes added that United are now pretty much guaranteed to make the Europa League final, where they could come up against Tottenham Hotspur.

“At 3-0, it should be over,” he said. “But it’s United these days, we don’t know what we’re going to get. They have been beaten 3-0 at home by a couple of teams this year.

“You always go into it saying it’s not over, but really it should be over. I think it is.”

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