One of Athletic Club’s stars were close to tears when reflecting on their Europa League exit to Manchester United in the semi-finals.
Manchester United secured a convincing 7-1 win against Athletic Club over two legs in the semi-finals of the Europa League.
After securing knockout victories over Real Sociedad and Lyon, the Reds came up against the favourites to win the competition. Athletic Club have one of the best defensive records in Europe’s top five leagues.
However, the La Liga side were overwhelmed by Ruben Amorim’s men across the two-legs, despite having control during periods of the second game.
United now turn their attention towards the final in Bilbao, where they will be facing fellow Premier League underperformers Tottenham Hotspur.
Athletic Club star near tears when assessing Europa League exit
It was an emotional exit for Athletic Club, who knew that they would be playing in their home stadium for the final if they made it there.
Mikel Jauregizar has been reviewing the cup exit and assessing what went wrong for the La Liga side against United. He believes one of their biggest issues was getting “carried away”.
“It doesn’t reflect the result of the tie,” Jauregizar told Cadena SER, with Sport Witness noting that the midfielder was ‘near tears’ when discussing the game.
“They punished us a lot, we got carried away, and the truth is, it’s something we have to correct. The truth is that we were very good in the first half, even at the beginning of the second half, but it’s true that their goal hurt us a lot.
“We got carried away a bit. We came in with a lot of hope and desire, and it showed on the pitch. We do have to improve on letting ourselves get carried away and being punished so much. It’s something that has hurt us a lot and can’t happen again.”
United need to use experience
It seemed to be a similar story against Lyon, when United launched a stunning comeback win after the French side seemed to get too complacent after going 4-2 up in the second leg.
That is also one of the advantages United have going into this final against Spurs. Amorim has several players who you know can deal with the occasion, none more-so than Casemiro.
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Spurs have beaten United three times this season but that means nothing when you are in a final, as shown by United’s FA Cup victory over Manchester City last term.
United fans will hope that experience will take them over the line in Bilbao.
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