Athletic Bilbao manager Ernesto Valverde disagreed with Manchester United manager Ruben Amorim as he reacted to being drawn with the Manchester side in the Europa League semi-final.
After the curtain had closed on Manchester United’s chaotic quarter-final, they found out that they had drawn Athletic Bilbao in the semi-final, who beat Rangers both 2-0 on the night and on aggregate.
Ruben Amorim’s side will still be coming down from cloud nine after their extra time antics saw them pip Olympique Lyonnais to a Europa League semi-final spot in a 7-6 aggregate win.
Late goals from Bruno Fernandes, Kobbie Mainoo and Harry Maguire in the final minutes of extra time saw the Reds turn around what looked to be an impossible victory.
According to Opta, this is the first time in history that a team has scored two goals in the 120th minute of a European match. These late dramatics have set up a nicely poised semi-final with a lot at stake for Amorim’s side.
Valverde’s thoughts on the draw
In his post-match press conference, Bilbao manager Ernesto Valverde was very complimentary of his semi-final opponents, explaining he feels United are not a club that belong in the Europa League.
“Manchester United are a Champions League club,” Valverde claimed. “Right now, they’re taking the Europa League as the only chance to qualify to where they belong.”
Right or wrong, this comment from Valverde is an apparent attempt to set his side up as underdogs, even though the Basque club is having a very strong campaign, which sees them sit in fourth place in La Liga.
Regardless of Valverde’s comments, this tie is set to be a heavily contested battle between two evenly matched sides, and the first leg will take place in Bilbao on 1 May.
Valverde disagreeing with Amorim?
Contrary to the Bilbao manager’s views, Amorim insinuated that his United side were, in fact, not good enough to play Champions League football right now during his pre-match press conference on Wednesday.
Prior to the win over Lyon, Amorim stated on Wednesday afternoon: “If you look at this moment, I think we are not ready to be really competitive in the Premier League and to cope with the Champions League. I think it’s really clear, and we have to be really clear.
“If you have Champions League, you know that you have a different budget to try to put a better team for next season, but this team, with new players, will need time to work, so I think it’s something that we’ll discover next year, hopefully.”
Despite what Valverde thinks, Amorim clearly has it in his mind that his side are not good enough to compete amongst Europe’s elites yet, but some European silverware could quickly change that.
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