Mason Mount has explained three ways he can impact against Athletic Club as Rúben Amorim prepares his Manchester United side for the Europa League semi-finals.
Manchester United are finalising preparations ahead of their Europa League semi-final first leg against Athletic Club on Thursday afternoon — a fixture that could define Rúben Amorim’s early tenure at Old Trafford.
The Reds arrive in the last four after a stunning comeback against Olympique Lyonnais, with three goals in just seven minutes from Bruno Fernandes, Kobbie Mainoo, and Harry Maguire sealing a dramatic 7-6 aggregate victory in front of a raucous home crowd.
But momentum has stalled in the league. United were beaten 1-0 by Wolverhampton Wanderers before rescuing a point late on at Bournemouth, where Rasmus Højlund found the net in stoppage time.
Now, with silverware in sight, Amorim’s side has spent the last few days fine-tuning their approach before flying to Spain on Wednesday for what promises to be a fiercely contested first leg.
Mount finding it hard to break into the starting XI
Mason Mount’s last start for United came back in December, when he played just 13 minutes before being taken off through injury during the early moments of a dramatic 2-1 win over Manchester City.
He made his return to training in mid-March and was involved in the matchday squad that defeated Leicester City 3-0 prior to the latest international break.
Since then, he has made seven consecutive appearances, all of which have been from the bench, with Amorim so far refusing to start the player since his return.
Amorim has been keen to praise Mount for his abilities since the head coach arrived at Old Trafford, dubbing the midfielder a “proper footballer” during his early weeks at the club.
However, it has become clear that, amid the Englishman’s injury issues, Amorim does not yet trust the player to play a full 90 minutes, instead electing to start Alejandro Garnacho and Fernandes as part of the team’s front three for the most part in the last six weeks.
Mount explains how he can impact vs Athletic Club
With the trip to Bilbao now at the forefront of everyone’s minds, Mount has explained to club media that he still feels he can make a significant impact for Amorim coming off the bench.
The 26-year-old was asked how it felt coming off the bench and experiencing the fantastic comeback against Lyon, to which he explained he feels he can add extra energy to the squad as an impact player.
“Coming on, you want to make an impact,” Mount explained. “You want to come on, change the game, bring some energy.
“The lads obviously put in 87 minutes of hard work [against Lyon] and some of the lads maybe were a bit tired, so it’s my job to come on and kind of inject a bit of energy into the game. So that was the goal. That was the focus of mine.
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“Obviously, I came on in the 10 [minutes]. In the extra time, I was on the right wing to try and keep the width. So we were changing the formation to adapt to the game. Obviously, they got a man sent off, so we tried to make the game wide, crosses into the box, and then obviously, H [Maguire] went up front and the rest is history.”
With United no longer having Joshua Zirkzee as an attacking option and Amad not yet fit to start after his injury return, the club are limited in their attacking numbers.
With Mount vowing to be a player who can bring extra energy to the side, Amorim would do well to use the player as an impact option against Athletic Club.
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