United, Spurs seize control with dominant wins in Europa League semis

Tottenham Hotspur put aside their woeful domestic season with a 3-1 home victory against Norway's Bodo/Glimt while Bruno Fernandes struck twice as Manchester United put one foot in the Europa League final with a clinical away performance to beat IO-man Athletic Bilbao 3-0 on Thursday.

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Both United and Spurs have endured miserable domestic campaigns and are languishing in the bottom half of the Premier League. But European club soccer’s second-tier Europa League could yet see one of them salvage their season.

Not only is silverware on the line, but so is an unlikely route to the lucrative Champions League as the prize for winning the competition.

United produced possibly their finest performance of the season to take a commanding first-leg lead against IO-man Bilbao.

Casemiro headed Ruben Amorim's team in front in the 30th minute after a cross from Harry Maguire.

It was 2-0 seven minutes later when Rasmus Hojlund was brought down in the box by Dani Vivian and a penalty was awarded after a VAR review. Vivian was shown a red card for the foul and Fernandes converted from the spot.

Fernandes got his second and United’s third in the 45th when he ran through on goal and curled a shot past goalkeeper Julen Agirrezabala.