{"id":82635,"date":"2025-05-07T19:26:24","date_gmt":"2025-05-07T19:26:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/82635\/"},"modified":"2025-05-07T19:26:24","modified_gmt":"2025-05-07T19:26:24","slug":"predicted-manchester-united-line-up-to-face-athletic-club-ruben-amorim-makes-nine-changes-as-amad-starts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/82635\/","title":{"rendered":"Predicted Manchester United line-up to face Athletic Club, Ruben Amorim makes nine changes as Amad starts"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Manchester United are 90 minutes away from returning to the Europa League and will start the semi-final second leg on Thursday with a 3-0 lead.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Ruben Amorim<\/a> will be surprisingly calm in advance of the semi-final second leg on Thursday night at Old Trafford<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Barring a complete capitulation, Manchester United\u2019s<\/a> first-half work in San Mames last week should be enough to end Athletic Club\u2019s chances, with the margin simply too big.<\/p>\n

Ernesto Valverde would have had some hope of Bilbao staging what would have been a historic comeback for the Basque side, but this has surely now been dashed.<\/p>\n

Athletic Club\u2019s 24-man squad is without Inaki Williams or Nico Williams<\/a>, which sees the brothers join the injury list alongside Oihan Sancet. These are Bilbao\u2019s three top scorers, all missing for a game in which they will need a minimum of three goals.<\/p>\n

This hands United a real advantage in terms of keeping Bilbao\u2019s attack at bay and making it a comfortable night, although Harry Maguire has insisted the tie is not done yet<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"PhotoPhoto by Alex Livesey\/Getty ImagesHow Manchester United could line-up against Athletic Club<\/p>\n

It promises to be another loud night at Old Trafford, with United planning a brand new Bruno Fernandes-approved TIFO<\/a> to help with the atmosphere.<\/p>\n

This should not be needed, with Old Trafford usually bouncing on European nights, and this Thursday should be no different, especially if United have a performance like last week.<\/p>\n

So here is our predicted line-up for the clash against Bilbao, for a place in the final\u2026<\/p>\n

In goal, Onana\u2019s position for any consequential games is safe until the summer at least, as Altay Bayindir has conceded four on each of his last two starts<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Returning to the centre-back position, Mazraoui was incredible against Athletic Club last week<\/a> as he locked down Nico Williams, and after being rested at the weekend, he should start here.<\/p>\n

Similar to Mazraoui, Maguire was brilliant for United in the first leg<\/a> and was supposed to be rested at the weekend until Matthijs de Ligt\u2019s injury. He will start here.<\/p>\n

For many, Yoro was considered United\u2019s \u2018unsung hero\u2019 against Bilbao<\/a> with a flawless performance, which means he will absolutely be starting here.<\/p>\n

On the right side, we are expecting to see Amad start his first game since February. Amad scored against Brentford<\/a>, and his return came at the perfect time for United.<\/p>\n

The build-up to the game for United has been clouded by Fernandes being linked with a move to Saudi Arabia<\/a>, which Amorim has refuted. However, there is no way he doesn\u2019t start.<\/p>\n

\"PhotoPhoto by Guillermo Martinez\/NurPhoto via Getty Images<\/p>\n

Casemiro got the day off against Brentford and so is nailed on to start this one. Last week, Casemiro dominated Bilbao and was United\u2019s star man<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Back on the left after a disappointing day on the right against Brentford, Dorgu should be starting this game, although he must be rested at some point. <\/p>\n

The pressure is off for the attack on Thursday, but we still see Amorim going strong with Mount starting. Against Brentford, Mount scored his first goal of the season<\/a> and will want to add another.<\/p>\n

Despite being tipped as a possible summer sale, Garnacho is in fine form for United<\/a> with a goal and an assist at the weekend. He has become key for Amorim and surely starts here.<\/p>\n

In the first leg, Amorim said that Hojlund had his best game for United<\/a>, and after being rested against Brentford, he is nailed on to start here. <\/p>\n

\"ManchesterManchester United predicted XI vs Athletic Club \/ GRV Media line-up tool<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Manchester United are 90 minutes away from returning to the Europa League and will start the semi-final second…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":82636,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[1682,7439,873,11493,1811,175,79,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-82635","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports","8":"tag-alejandro-garnacho","9":"tag-amad-diallo","10":"tag-bruno-fernandes","11":"tag-casemiro","12":"tag-europa-league","13":"tag-harry-maguire","14":"tag-sports","15":"tag-uk","16":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114468197735480826","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82635","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=82635"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82635\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/82636"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=82635"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=82635"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=82635"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}