Europa League
2025-05-01 - Athletic Bilbao vs Manchester United
A Sports Betting Pick by Auls
Football: UEFA Europa League Semi Final First Leg
Thursday 1st May 2025 - Kick Off 8pm
This game is live on TV
Athletic Bilbao
There is a deep history of tradition associated with Athletic Bilbao, who continue to only sign Basque players to perform for the club. In the modern era, that has made it very tough to add to the League titles last won in the early 1980s, but Athletic Bilbao did pick up silverware last year by winning the Copa Del Rey.
Perhaps unsurprisingly considering the recruitment restraints on the club, Athletic Bilbao have yet to win a major European trophy like others around Spain. This year's Europa League has long been a target considering the Final will be played in their home Stadium and Athletic Bilbao have looked strong in their run to the Semi Final. Finishing in the top eight of the League Phase and following up with Knock Out wins over Roma and Rangers will give Athletic Bilbao confidence, and the First Leg of this Semi Final is played at home where they have won all 6 Europa League fixtures this season.
Athletic Bilbao are well rested having not had a fixture to play last weekend and they have won 3 of their last 4 games in all competitions with the exception being a 1-0 loss at Real Madrid. The side are unbeaten in 10 home games in all competitions since being upset in the Copa Del Rey, but more importantly for the confidence of the Athletic Bilbao players is that they have won 7 of their last 9 here.
Nico Williams was one of the young stars that helped Spain win the Euro 2024 tournament last summer and he is likely to be moving on from Athletic Bilbao after the conclusion of this season. He has avoided a serious injury and looks set to start, but the home team are expected to be without Oihan Sanchet who is the leading goalscorer.
Manchester United
The injury time goal salvaged Manchester United a point on the South Coast after Bournemouth had been controversially been reduced to ten men on Sunday afternoon. While perhaps not the performance to inspire ahead of this Europa League Semi Final, Ruben Amorim may just be pleased to get through without further injuries as Manchester United move into the most important time of their season.
Winning the Europa League would open significant opportunities for Manchester United to speed up the rebuild that is going to be needed under their current manager. The financial rewards that come with competing in the Champions League cannot be ignored and Manchester United are under pressure, even as the sole unbeaten team left playing in any European competition this season. The Knock Out run has seen the side move past Real Sociedad and Lyon after away draws in the First Leg, although Manchester United fans may still be wondering how the team rallied from a desperate position to beat Lyon in the last Round.
Manchester United have now recorded just 2 wins in normal time from the last 12 fixtures played in all competitions, while they have won none of their last 7 following the draw at the Vitality Stadium. That result also means Manchester United have won 1 of their last 8 away games in all competitions, although suffered just 3 defeats in that time.
Diogo Dalot has picked up an injury that could see him miss the remainder of this season, while the likes of Matthijs de Ligt, Ayden Heaven, Toby Collyer and Amad may find the First Leg too soon to travel with the squad.
Head to Head
Athletic Bilbao and Manchester United have met twice before- they played in the European Cup in the 1956/57 season and in the Europa League in 2011/12.
On both occasions Athletic Bilbao were able to win the Home Leg, but each club has progressed past the other once.
Prediction
Make no mistake about the importance of this Europa League tie to both Athletic Bilbao and Manchester United and the winning club will certainly feel like favourites in the Final regardless of who they were to face.
For Athletic Bilbao, the motivation to win a first European trophy in their own Stadium is incredibly high and the performances in the Europa League has seen the team prove that in each passing week. The Knock Out wins over Roma and Rangers were perhaps tougher than expected, but Athletic Bilbao have used the San Mames to great effect and 6 wins in 6 Europa League games played here will give them a lot of encouragement.
Form is important, but keeping a squad fresh is also so key when it comes to big matches played in May and Athletic Bilbao might have suffered a big blow. They are glad to have Nico Williams looking ready to go from the start, but Oihan Sanchet is the leading goal-scorer and he is almost certainly going to be ruled out for the First Leg.
That is a huge miss and Athletic Bilbao will have to find solutions as they look to at least have something to protect in Manchester next week.
After a really poor season, Manchester United fans remain optimistic that the team can rally and win a third piece of silverware in three seasons in succession. Ruben Amorim initially downplayed the importance of winning the Europa League, but the financial boost of returning to the Champions League is impossible to ignore and this is a huge competition for Manchester United, who won the Europa League in 2017.
Manchester United are the only unbeaten team left in European competition this season and have battled for away draws at Real Sociedad and Lyon in the last two Rounds. The team have faced plenty of criticism for a lack of bite in the final third, but Manchester United have some decent underlying defensive numbers and can make things difficult for their hosts as long as they do not give away anything early.
Unfortunately that has been happening far too often of late and that is the worry in this First Leg in Bilbao.
The home price is drifting after news about their top scorer, which is not a surprise, but Athletic Bilbao create chances here and have been in strong form overall.
Most of the expectation is that the Semi Final will ultimately be decided at Old Trafford next Thursday, but Athletic Bilbao may just have a slight advantage going into that one.
The Pick :
Athletic Bilbao 2-1 Manchester United
