Bearing in mind their miserable season this was far from a forgone conclusion despite a 3-0 victory in Spain a week ago. Winning the Europa League and therefore qualifying for the Champions League will salvage a crumb of comfort for their long suffering supporters.
Without winning this competition they face only their second season without any European football in 35 years and coupled with their lowest ever Premier League points total a lot is still resting on a final victory.
And in fairness the 4-1 scoreline flatters the hosts. Not that they will worry about that but their performance had their fans on edge for most of the game and whilst they kept up the noise levels it was visitor’s supporters who turned up the volume control for most of the clash. Their team may have finally showed their quality but against more clinical opposition they will need to turn up from the beginning and not rely on late heroics.
Flattering scoreline
Only when victory was assured in the final 20 minutes did Old Trafford and the majority of the 73,298 in attendance begin to enjoy themselves.
Harry Maguire, hero of the dramatic quarter final win over Lyon, turned villain when he gave away possession cheaply and Mikel Jaureguizar hit a glorious effort into the top corner just after the half hour much to the delight of the vociferous Spanish following and handing the visitors the impetus they needed.
In truth it was no more than the Basque outfit deserved after taking the game to a home side who lacked rhythm and confidence although Alejandro Garnacho spurned a wonderful opportunity to level when clean through but chipped his effort wide continuing his form of failing to take chances.
The away support may have travelled more in hope than expectation but for 70 minutes they had plenty of the former as United failed to impose themselves on the game and frustrated their supporters with failure to retain the ball. Yet for all the visitors control apart from the goal they failed to test Andre Onana despite the best efforts of the Utd rearguard to assist them.
Mount the gamechanger
But all that changed when substitute Mason Mount, whose had an injury hit career with the Reds, settled the nerves with a fine finish and the job was completed minutes later with a Casemiro header as Old Trafford erupted on both occasions first with a mixture of relief then with unbridled joy. The gloss was added by Rasmus Hojlund then Mount who added a fourth in injury time from inside his own half after a poor clearance from the keeper Jolene Agirrezabala.
It was now Athletic’s turn to look disjointed as this late flurry again propelled the home side to success leaving United unbeaten in this season’s Europa League and a meeting in the final with Premier League opponents Tottenham Hotspur on Wednesday, 21 May in Bilbao.
United boss Ruben Amorim has become the first manager to reach a major European final in his first season in charge of an English club since Thomas Tuchel with Chelsea in the 2020-21 Champions League and the second United manager to achieve this feat in his debut season, with José Mourinho doing so in the 2016-17 Europa League.
The result means United are now in a position to compete in the Champions League with the resulting financial benefits as it has been calculated that not to win the Europa League could cost the club, who have already implemented drastic savings, £100m.