Athletic Bilbao vs Manchester United

Out-of-sorts Manchester United head to Estadio San Mames to meet Athletic Bilbao in the first leg of their Europa League semi-final tie.

With the Europa League final set to take place at San Mames, Athletic Bilbao will have an added motive to strengthen their formidable H2H record against Manchester United in this semi-final tie (W3, L1). That run includes victories in both previous meetings in the Basque country, not to mention they won both legs the last time these teams met in 2011/12. Ernesto Valverde’s side got the better of another British opposition in the quarter-finals, overcoming Rangers 2-0 on aggregate to reach the UEFA semi-finals for the third time. Los Leones impressively boast a 100% win ratio at this stage of a UEFA competition (despite a relatively small sample). Furthermore, they’ve won all six home outings in this season’s Europa League, netting 14 goals while only conceding two in return.

Meanwhile, visiting Manchester United will try to knock Bilbao down from a superb 10-game unbeaten home streak in all competitions (W7, D3) and steady the ship after failing to win any of their last seven competitive matches inside 90 minutes (D4, L3). However, history doesn’t favor the Red Devils here, considering ten of their previous 15 European campaigns ended at the hands of La Liga opposition! Eager to make amends for their first domestic season in the Premier League era, Man Utd can take heart from going unbeaten in all 12 Europa League games this term (W7, D5). Additional inspiration stems from United’s eye-catching record of 14 wins from 15 previous two-legged Europa League ties. As if that’s not encouraging enough, the Old Trafford giants have only lost once on their last nine visits to Spain (W5, D3).