Athletic Bilbao have traveled without an important trio of stars ahead of their crunch Europa League clash with Manchester United. United are taking a strong 3-0 aggregate lead into the second leg of the semi-final at Old Trafford.
A superb result in Spain leaves United on the brink of a European final, where they could meet Premier League rivals Tottenham. United must simply avoid losing by a four-goal margin against the La Liga outfit in tomorrow’s reverse fixture to be sure of reaching the showpiece event. That gives United a huge advantage ahead of the second leg.
United will be further buoyed by the absence of three key Athletic stars. The Spanish side have announced their squad to travel to Manchester and it excludes their top scorer and two of their best forwards.
Attacking midfielder Oihan Sancet, who has scored 15 La Liga goals this season, missed the first leg and has not made the trip to England. Brothers Nico and Inaki Williams are also set to miss the game. Nico, 22, is one of Europe’s most highly-rated wingers and has been linked with a switch to the Premier League. Arsenal are said to be interested in signing the Spain international, who scored in last year’s Euro 2024 final victory over England.
Inaki, 30, is an Athletic legend. He has scored 111 goals in 469 appearances for the Basque club. The forward was substituted in the stalemate with La Real at the weekend with a thigh injury, which Athletic confirmed would rule him out of traveling to Manchester.
United were excellent in the first leg, producing one of the best performances of the Amorim era so far. Casemiro scored after half an hour in Bilbao, before home defender Dani Vivian was sent off after conceding a penalty. Bruno Fernandes scored the spot-kick and then struck again just before half-time.
With these key players out, Athletic Bilbao will face an uphill task in trying to overturn the deficit against Manchester United.