EUROPA LEAGUE BETTING PREVIEW - MANCHESTER UNITED VS ATHLETIC BILBAO

Europa League

2025-05-08 - Manchester United vs Athletic Bilbao

A Sports Betting Preview by Auls

Manchester United v Athletic Bilbao
Football: UEFA Europa League Semi Final Second Leg
Thursday 8th May 2025 - Kick Off 8pm
This game is live on TV

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Manchester United

The most positive of Manchester United fan would have been rubbing their eyes at half time and not quite believing the kind of position that the team have gotten into in this Europa League Semi Final. A tough test was expected at San Mames and Manchester United had to weather some early pressure, but things changed dramatically in the middle of the first half and now the Premier League club are in complete control of the tie.

The form in the Europa League has been much stronger than what has been produced in the Premier League and there is a big opportunity in front of Manchester United. Ruben Amorim knows the financial boost that the club will be given if they are back in the Champions League next season, but there is still work to do. Not only are Manchester United still the only unbeaten team in European competition this season, but they are unbeaten in 11 home Europa League ties going back to September 2022.

Manchester United suffered another Premier League defeat on Sunday at Brentford, but that is not a massive concern for the supporters who know that the focus is on the Europa League. The side did see their 7 game unbeaten run at Old Trafford ended last time out here when Wolves left with a 0-1 victory.

Massive changes were made to the first eleven for the game at Brentford and key players should be rested for the Second Leg. The one disappointment is the injury picked up by Matthijs de Ligt, which likely means another spell on the sidelines.

Athletic Bilbao

The crowd had been building and preparing for an important Europa League Semi Final First Leg for hours and everyone wanted to see Athletic Bilbao back for the Europa League Final to be hosted at their own Stadium. Things started pretty well in the First Leg with a couple of big chances blown, but the capitulation at the end of the first half could prove costly.

Losing by a three goal margin in the First Leg of any European tie has usually meant exit- it has been tough enough trying to recover that deficit at home, never mind the challenge that awaits Athletic Bilbao. Making that task tougher is the fact that Athletic Bilbao have not won any of their last 3 away Europa League ties and had lost 2 in a row before the goalless draw at Rangers in the Quarter Final First Leg.

Athletic Bilbao have won 1 of their last 4 games in all competitions and were held to a goalless draw in the Basque derby against Real Sociedad this past weekend. The real concern is that they have failed to score in their last 2 games without leading scorer Oihan Sanchet, while Athletic Bilbao have won none of their last 4 games on their travels and have failed to hit the net in those.

Oihan Sanchet remains a doubt and may not be risked from the start even if he does travel. Dani Vivian was sent off in the First Leg and serves a suspension.

Head to Head

These teams met in the Europa League in 2011/12 and Athletic Bilbao were able to win 2-3 at Old Trafford.

The previous meeting at Old Trafford was in February 1957 and Manchester United were 3-0 winners on that day.

Prediction

Recovering from being three or more goals down from a First Leg of any European competition have become increasingly uncommon in recent years, but doing so away from home is incredibly rare.

Everything points to Manchester United progressing through to the Europa League Final after the wonderful result they produced in the First Leg of this Semi Final, although no one associated with the club will be taking anything for granted.

However, Manchester United remain unbeaten in the Europa League this season and the strongest results have been produced under Ruben Amorim's guidance.

The key for this Second Leg may be making sure they don't give Athletic Bilbao any early encouragement and that is something that Manchester United should be able to do.

Oihan Sanchet's absence continues to hurt Athletic Bilbao, while it will be noted that this is a team that has been much stronger at home than on their travels. They actually started well at San Mames last Thursday, but missed chances came back to haunt Athletic Bilbao and a team that has not won any of their last 3 away Europa League games has it all to do in the Second Leg.

Further to that, Athletic Bilbao have not only failed to win any of their last 4 away games in all competitions, but they have not scored in any of those either. The players could quickly lose hope in this one if they are not in front early enough to build confidence and that is where Manchester United should have the qualities to just turn the screw and make sure there are no unnecessary stressful moments.

The home do not need to win to progress to the Final, but chances may come up if Athletic Bilbao lose their hope and that is where Manchester United can put an exclamation point on the tie. They should have beaten Lyon in normal time in the Quarter Final, but Manchester United had won the previous 4 home Europa League ties played and they can do the same in this Second Leg.

The Pick :

Manchester United 2-0 Athletic Bilbao

FIXED ODDS BETTING :

I'll back Manchester United to Win at 2.08 with SportBet.One