{"id":84919,"date":"2025-05-08T15:18:08","date_gmt":"2025-05-08T15:18:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/84919\/"},"modified":"2025-05-08T15:18:08","modified_gmt":"2025-05-08T15:18:08","slug":"im-convinced-ex-man-united-star-backs-athletic-club-to-complete-europa-league-comeback","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/84919\/","title":{"rendered":"‘I’m convinced…’ Ex-Man United star backs Athletic Club to complete Europa League comeback"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Manchester United will reach the Europa League final if they can avoid a major upset against Athletic Club.<\/strong><\/p>\n

A 3-0 win over Athletic Club<\/a> in Bilbao last week means Manchester United<\/a> have one foot in the Europa League final<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Ruben Amorim<\/a> insists the tie is not over and there is still work to be done at Old Trafford on Thursday evening, and United have been warned about Athletic Club<\/a> completing a comeback.<\/p>\n

Amorim will field a strong United side<\/a> against Athletic Club to avoid complacency in what is undoubtedly United\u2019s most important game of the season.<\/p>\n

Tensions will be high at Old Trafford, and a former United star believes Athletic Club could come out on top.<\/p>\n

\"PhotoPhoto By Ricardo Larreina\/Europa Press via Getty ImagesAnder Herrera predicts Athletic Club comeback vs Man United<\/p>\n

Given the underwhelming season that United have had, there will be some nerves about Athletic Club completing a comeback if Amorim\u2019s side start poorly on Thursday evening.<\/p>\n

While Paul Scholes insists United are through<\/a>, former United midfielder Ander Herrera<\/a> predicts that the Red Devils could crumble.<\/p>\n

Speaking to Spanish outlet Marca<\/a>, Herrera said: \u201cIf there\u2019s a team that can do it right now, it\u2019s Athletic.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re a team that has something special and something unique about the knockout stages. They\u2019re going to give them a hard time. <\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m convinced that if Athletic manages to score a goal in the first 15 or 20 minutes, it\u2019s possible. <\/p>\n

\u201cI have some hope. I\u2019ve played for both clubs, and I also know that Old Trafford is special. But I think Athletic can take advantage of that moment of doubt that United sometimes have.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ernesto Valverde warned United<\/a> ahead of the first leg, and he will set his team up to put pressure on the Red Devils at Old Trafford.<\/p>\n

Ander Herrera wants Athletic Club to win Europa League<\/p>\n

Herrera spent five years as a Manchester United player between 2014 and 2019 and the Spaniard quickly became a fan favourite at Old Trafford.<\/p>\n

Under Jose Mourinho, Herrera won the Europa League in 2017<\/a> and started in the final as United beat Ajax.<\/p>\n

READ MORE: Christian Eriksen and Ander Herrera warn Man United about \u2018key\u2019 Athletic Club duo ahead of Europa League clash<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

However, Herrera also had two three-year stints with Athletic Club and he made it very clear that he is siding with the Spanish side.<\/p>\n

Herrera wants Athletic Club to beat United<\/a> in the semi-finals and go on to win the competition. Despite speaking extremely highly of United as a club, it seems Herrera is backing the underdog on Thursday evening.<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Manchester United will reach the Europa League final if they can avoid a major upset against Athletic Club.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":84920,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8813],"tags":[40875,748,393,1811,4884,2465,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-84919","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-manchester","8":"tag-ander-herrera","9":"tag-britain","10":"tag-england","11":"tag-europa-league","12":"tag-great-britain","13":"tag-manchester","14":"tag-uk","15":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114472884904145762","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84919","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=84919"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84919\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/84920"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=84919"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=84919"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=84919"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}