Manchester United vs Athletic Bilbao prediction: Red Devils to ease through to Europa League Final | OneFootball

Although they won’t be taking anything for granted, Manchester United already have one foot in the final with a 3-0 lead ahead of the second leg of their Europa League semi-final with Athletic Bilbao at Old Trafford.

United went ahead in Spain after half an hour, when Casemiro scored just his fourth goal of the season. Their task was made easier five minutes later when Dani Vivian was sent off and United were awarded a penalty for a foul on Rasmus Hojlund.

Captain Bruno Fernandes converted the penalty before adding a third on the stroke of half time, to all but end Bilbao’s dream of playing in the final at their home ground.

For many teams, having the second leg at home would be a bonus, but United’s home form has been a struggle all season, and they have failed to win back-to-back league games at home all season.

In this competition, though they have won their last five at home, with an aggregate scoreline of 16-8 but they did concede four last time out against Lyon, when they came from 4-2 down in extra time to secure a 7-6 aggregate win.

Manchester United vs Athletic Bilbao betting: Red Devils to progress

United are aiming for their third final and first since 2021, when they were beaten 12-11 on penalties by Villarreal.

They have won the competition once, back in 2017, when goals from Paul Pogba and Henrikh Mkhitaryan earned them a 2-0 win over Ajax.

This is only Athletic’s second appearance at this stage of the competition and first since they reached the final for the only time back in 2012, when they were beaten 3-0 by Atletico Madrid in Bucharest.

United are the leading scorers in the competition with 31 goals, while Bilbao have managed 10 fewer but the Spanish side have kept the joint-most clean sheets with six and conceded just 13.

United have kept just three clean sheets and conceded 17 goals in their 13 games.

Football betting sites are all backing United for the win at 23/20 while Bilbao are 12/5 and you can get 11/4 on a draw after 90 minutes. When it comes to who will go through to the final, United are 1/100 while their opponents are 28/1.

Ernesto Valverde’s side are going to have to go for it, and we know United’s defence has been fragile at times this season, so we’re backing both teams to score.

It doesn’t bear thinking about where United would be without their captain this season. He has rescued them more times than he should have to, and their success very much depends on his performance.

His brace in the first leg took his tally for goals to 21 for the season for club and country and seven in this competition, which puts him joint top of the scoring charts with Bodo/Glimt’s Kasper Hogh.

He has now scored 27 goals in the Europa League, which is more than any other Portuguese player in history and is one of the very few players who have impressed for the Red Devils this season with 19 goals and 17 assists in his 52 United appearances so far.

He is United’s top scorer in the Europa League and the Premier League with eight, and that highlights the issues the Reds have had in front of goal.

Betting sites are offering 13/2 on him scoring first or last or 9/4 on him scoring at any time.

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