United’s first-half blitz crushes Bilbao dreams

A few hundred metres from the Guggenheim Museum, Manchester United painted an unlikely, unforgettable picture of their own.

- RICHARD JOLLY AT THE SAN MAMES STADIUM

It felt more surrealist than modern art but a team who had been failing and floundering at home, who risked being officially the worst United side in decades, entered one of the most intimidating atmospheres any of them will encounter, went 3-0 up in the first half of a European semi-final and dominated. Nothing, Ruben Amorim had said, could save their season, but that was before the finest night of his reign, before a return to the Champions League, which once looked a pipe dream, felt all too real. Before this. “Nobody expected this result,” said Amorim. It was, he willingly admitted, the best of his tenure.

It prompted the question of where this United had been all season but if the answer was in Bilbao, in the San Mames, that is fortuitous. United can plan for a return in the final, perhaps to face Tottenham, the Premier League’s two greatest underachievers duelling for European glory. For Athletic Bilbao, the incentive of a hometown final could turn into a first-hand illustration of what they could have won, their ambitions crushed in 16 minutes of cruelty as United scored three times. “One foot in the final,” said Harry Maguire, whose right foot had acquired magical properties.

An extraordinary, explosive first half had its heroes for United and a villain for Athletic, the referee Espen Eskas jeered off after sending off Dani Vivian. Yet United could marvel at what they had seen. A crucial goal-line clearance from Victor Lindelof at 00, perhaps a parting gift from a player who is set to leave in the summer. Two assists from Manuel Ugarte, one backheeled with an elan he has rarely demonstrated. A thunderbolt from Noussair Mazraoui that rattled the bar. Maguire doing his best impression of Stanley Matthews. “What a winger,” smiled Bruno Fernandes. “I don't think he even knew he had that in his locker.”