Manchester United travel to the Basque Country for the second time this season. They can expect a tougher test in the semi-finals than they had against Real Sociedad in the last-16. United won that tie 5-2 on aggregate,Bruno Fernandes scoring a fine hat-trick at Old Traffordin one of their best performances of the season. In a season of many lows, the Europa League has given United some solace – and an opportunity to qualify for Europe next season.
Athletic Club are fourth in La Liga, so are well placed to qualify for the Champions League through their league position, but they have the extra motivation of knowing the Europa League final will be played at San Mamés. The stadium’s record attendance was set in a European final – when 52,282 rugby fans squeezed into the ground to watchLeinster beat Racing 92 in the Champions Cup finalin 2018. That record may well be broken if Athletic reach the final next month.
The Basque side should be well rested for the first leg on Thursday night, having not played since their 1-0 win over Las Palmas last week in La Liga. They are on a good run, with three wins in their last four, but Oihan Sancet suffered a hamstring injury against Las Palmas, meaning Unai Gómez may deputise in the No 10 role. Fortunately for the manager, Ernesto Valverde, Nico Williams returned from injury in the win against Las Palmas. Having been granted plenty of time to recover, the Spain international is set to start on the left. He has scored five goals in the competition this season (the same as his bother Iñaki) so his return is a big boost.
Williams can expect to come up against Noussair Mazraoui, who should feature at right wing-back with Diogo Dalot absent owing to a calf issue. Dalot is one of a number of United players missing, but Ruben Amorim is expected to have Matthijs de Ligt and Amad Diallo available for the second leg at Old Trafford, with the latter making a quicker recovery than expected.
With Lisandro Martínez and Ayden Heaven missing, Luke Shaw will probably continue on the left of a back three, having started there in United’s 1-1 draw at Bournemouth on Sunday. Rasmus Højlund scored a late equaliser on the south coast at the weekend and is likely to lead the line in the absence of Joshua Zirkzee, who is out for the rest of the season.
United have not lost any of their 12 games in theEuropa Leaguethis season – in fact, they are the only unbeaten side left in any of Uefa’s three competitions – but they have drawn four of their six away games in Europe. Their unbeaten record will be put to the test against an Athletic Club side who are unbeaten in 10 matches at San Mamés. They have won all six of their home matched in the Europa League this season, with an aggregate scoreline of 14-2. United will need to be at their very best – a rarity this season – to go through.Prediction: Athletic Club to progress
Tottenham’s eggs are firmly in the Europa League basket, with their only win in their last five matching coming in the competition. Ange Postecoglou made sweeping changes for the5-1 defeat to Liverpoolon Sunday, but he is set to revert to his strongest XI on Thursday night. That means returns for Micky van de Ven, Cristian Romero, Pedro Porro and Lucas Bergvall as Spurs eye their first major silverware since theywon the League Cup in 2008under Juande Ramos.
Like United, they have been abysmal in the Premier League this season and are on course to finish closer to the bottom of the table than the top. But a major trophy – and a route back into the Champions League – is within their grasp. The semi-final draw has been relatively kind to Spurs; the population of Bodø (42,831) is considerably smaller than the capacity at theTottenham HotspurStadium (62,850). This is the furthest that Bodø – or any Norwegian club – have ever gone in Europe.
That said, Spurs may be without Son Heung-Min on Thursday night. The Spurs captain has missed their last four matches with a foot injury he sustained in the first leg of their quarter-final against Eintracht Frankfurt last month. Radu Dragusin is the only other absentee, which is rare for Spurs given their injury-hit campaign.
The same cannot be said of their opponentsBodø/Glimt. The Norwegian champions secured their place in the semi-finals by beating Lazio on penalties in the last eight but that victory came at a cost for the manager, Kjetil Knutsen, who takes his team to London with Håkon Evjen and the captain Patrick Berg suspended. Both would normally start in the middle of the park for Bodø, with Sondre Fet and Sondre Auklend potentially deputising.
Bodø also have problems in defence. Villads Nielsen is likely to fill in at centre-back after Odin Bjørtuft suffered a groin injury in their 3-0 win over KFUM on Sunday. Isak Määttä will probably deputise for the injured forward Ole Didrik Blomberg.
Bodø have made it all the way to the semi-finals despite some iffy form on the road. They have lost four of their last five away matches in the competition, including defeats at Twente, Olympiacos and Lazio in the knockout rounds. If they can keep the tie alive after the first leg, they will be confident of beating Spurs when the sides meet in Norway for the return leg next week. The task for Spurs is to pick up a big result on Thursday night and put this tie to bed.Prediction: Tottenham to progress