MANCHESTER, England — Ruben Amorim has sent a warning to his Manchester United players by insisting that “anything is possible” despite being heavy favourites to finish off Athletic Club in their Europa League semifinal and book their place in the final.
United are preparing for the second leg at Old Trafford after stunning the Spanish side 3-0 in Bilbao last week.
In the history of the UEFA Cup and Europa League, 133 teams have won a knock-out tie first leg away from home by three or more goals and each time they have progressed.
It suggests United are set for a final against either Tottenham or Bodo/Glimt in Bilbao on May 21. But after a rollercoaster season and some miserable results at home, Amorim is taking nothing for granted.
“If you look at our season, anything is possible,” the United coach said.
“We have to understand one goal can change anything. The momentum of the game, one sending off, you saw it a week ago. We are fighting to win the game. We are thinking about winning the game.”
Amorim says it “doesn’t matter” that Athletic Club have left behind two of their best players in brothers Nico and Iñaki Williams.
They have won just one of their last 10 away games in all competitions, while United are unbeaten in their last 17 Europa League knock-out home games.
For Amorim, though, the quarterfinal second leg against Lyon is still fresh in his mind. United led 2-0 before being pegged back to 2-2. Lyon had a man sent off but still managed to lead 4-2 in extra time before a remarkable late fight-back.
“Sometimes during the game we are one team, something happens and we lose our mind a little bit,” Amorim said.
“If you look at our team we cannot say today what is going to happen.
“Some teams, the story is going to be like this and control the narrative. We cannot do that. I feel we need to score to go to the next round. We will have to suffer a bit to go to the final.”
Amorim has been boosted by the return of defender Noussair Mazraoui. He was left out of the squad for the 4-3 defeat to Brentford on Sunday but was fit enough to train as normal on Wednesday.
Matthijs de Ligt is unavailable after picking up a knee injury at the Gtech Community Stadium.
“It is not a big issue and that is the good thing,” Amorim said, when asked about De Ligt’s fitness.
“He cannot play tomorrow or Sunday [against West Ham] but then we will check day by day.”
