Manchester United forward Joshua Zirkzee missed the trip to Athletic Bilbao due to an injury that ruled him out for the season
Manchester United forward Joshua Zirkzee hailed captain Bruno Fernandes during the comfortable 3-0 victory over Athletic Bilbao in the Europa League semi-final first leg.
Many were expecting a tough night in the Basque Country for United and that seemed like it would be the case up until the 30th minute. Casemiro opened the scoring with a back post header after forward play Lamine Yamal would have been proud of from Harry Maguire.
Shortly afterwards the game changed for good when Rasmus Hojlund was pulled to the ground by Dani Vivian. Initially a foul was not awarded but a VAR review saw the referee not only award a penalty but also send the Bilbao centre-back off. Keeping his composure, Fernandes made it 2-0 with a cool penalty.
On the stroke of half-time United put themselves in a commanding position. Fernandes’ perseverence saw him break through the defence and fire home to leave Athletic Club with a mountain to climb in the second leg.
Throughout the night, Zirkzee gave an insight into his experience of the match and the wild celebrations that were taking place in his house. Filming all three goals, the Dutchman began with the message: “GET INNN!!!!! COME ON BOYS!!!!!”
Then as Fernandes slotted away his penalty, the forward shouted: “Never in doubt,” as United took control of the contest. Finally his celebrations were turned up to the maximum as he screamed in delight as Fernandes captured a brace.
“My captain,” he wrote with numerous exclamation marks as he summed up the moods of all United fans on Thursday night. Ruben Amorim will be first to stress that the tie is not over and United will need to be wary of Bilbao’s threats next weekend when they travel to Old Trafford for the second leg.
With a three-goal cushion, United are huge favourites to advance to the final of the Europa League which will be played on May 21 in the San Mames Stadium.
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