Fernandes gives Manchester United an edge in the Europa League semi final after defeating Athletic Bilbao in Spain
Bruno Fernandes led Manchester United to a stunning 3-0 victory over 10-man Athletic Bilbao in the first leg of their Europa League semi-final clash on Thursday.
Fernandes scored twice in a brilliant first-half display that saw Dani Vivian sent off in the 35th minute following the denial of a goal-scoring opportunity against Rasmus Hojlund.
United thought they had taken the lead in the fifth minute through Alejandro Garnacho, but his close-range finish was ruled out offside, a decision confirmed by VAR.
The hosts, however, responded quickly, with Alex Berenguer testing Andre Onana from distance before Inaki Williams headed over the crossbar from inside the penalty area.
Berenguer then had an effort cleared off the line by Victor Lindelof. Despite their pressure, Ruben Amorim’s team took the lead on the half-hour mark through Casemiro.
Harry Maguire’s weaving run on the right ended with a cross into the box that was flicked to the back post by Manuel Ugarte, with Casemiro on hand to head the ball home.
It got even better for United four minutes later when Vivian was handed a straight red card following a pull on Hojlund as he looked to score from six yards out.
Referee Espen Eskas had initially waved play on, but was sent to the monitor to review his decision. Fernandes stepped up to coolly dispatch the resulting spot-kick.
Fernandes then doubled his tally on the stroke of half-time, collecting Ugarte’s neat backheel before slotting past Julen Agirrezabala to put United into a commanding position.
It could, however, have been even better when Noussair Mazraoui crashed an effort against the crossbar in first-half stoppage time.
United continued to dominate after the break, with Casemiro going close to grabbing his second header of the match, only to be denied by the near post from Fernandes’ corner.
Fernandes then tested Agirrezabala from distance in the closing stages, with the visitors restricting their opponents to very little going forward to see out a fine victory.
The Europa League final is at Bilbao’s San Mames stadium next month, with United taking a huge leap towards returning to Spain for the showpiece match on May 21.
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