Man United head coach, Ruben Amorim, has warned against complacency ahead of his sides second leg Europa League clash against Athletic Club.
Speaking with TNT Sports on Thursday, Amorim said, “We had the chances to score one more, but this is not done. The same result can happen at Old Trafford, and we need to be prepared.”
Indeed, nobody expected the magnitude of their 3-0 Europa League semi-final first leg win at Athletic Club, but insisted the tie was still not over ahead of next week’s return match.
His side became only the third to win at San Mames since August and inflicted the joint-biggest defeat on their hosts at the stadium in over a decade, putting one foot in the Europa League final at the same stadium later this month, where they look likely to meet Premier League rivals Tottenham.
United weathered an early storm from the hosts but took the lead through Casemiro’s header, and then played much of the game with a man advantage after centre-back Dani Vivian conceded a penalty and was sent off for pulling back Rasmus Hojlund in his own box.
Despite scoring three goals in the final 15 minutes of the opening period, the one criticism of the visitors’ performance was that they did not manage to add to their advantage and kill off the tie as a contest.
Man Utd are the only remaining team unbeaten in Europe this season, in stark contrast to their Premier League campaign where they have lost 15 of 34 league games – but even so, the head coach had not been expecting such an emphatic victory in the Basque country.
It’s the best result because nobody expected this result,” he said. “But you saw two games today – the first 25 minutes and then, after the goal and the sending-off, the game changed.
In the second half, we tried to be cautious, and we created chances, but the most important thing is the opponent didn’t get many shots on our goal.
In the first 30 minutes, they had chances to score. If they score, it’s a different game. When we scored, we felt freer to play.
It’s hard to understand, but sometimes it’s the context. We can win this competition. In the Premier League, we are suffering game after game.
We try to manage both things with some injuries. Sometimes, it’s hard, even for the players.”
Amorim sounded a note of caution despite the size of Man Utd’s victory and the meteoric collapse, which would be required for them to be eliminated.
Of 133 previous first-leg away wins by three goals in European knock-out ties, all 133 teams have progressed to the next round.
