Harry Maguire reveals the United quality which secured Bilbao rout: "All the pressure will be on us"

Evening Standard

·1 May 2025

Harry Maguire reveals the United quality which secured Bilbao rout: "All the pressure will be on us"

Maguire was an unlikely winger as he teed up United’s opener

Harry Maguire has called on Manchester United teammates not to get complacent ahead of their Europa League semi-final second leg.

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United ran out convincing winners in the first leg, beating a ten-man Athletic Club 0-3. Casemiro and Bruno Fernandes had United three ahead at the break and put in a professional second-half performance to get the result over the line.

The centre-back Maguire played a starring role in the first goal as he found himself on the right wing, producing some tricky footwork to beat his man before dishing a cross in for Casemiro to finish. Despite taking a commanding lead into the second leg, he told TNT Sports the job was not finished.

He said: “It's a great start. To come here and get a result and three goals, a clean sheet, it's a great start. We can't hide from that.

“All the pressure will be on us now, everyone will expect us to go through, so we need to prepare well, and if we do we will give ourselves a great opportunity to reach the final.

“It has been a great night for us, but one foot in the final, it's still not done.”

Maguire was effective all over the pitch

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Ruben Amorim concurred, acknowledging that Dani Vivian’s red card helped United gain a foothold: “The goal and sending off changed the game. There was a little luck.

“This is not done. They can do the same at Old Trafford. They are really strong, really intense, so we need to be prepared.”

Maguire, though, put the result down to United’s recovery from a nervy opening period rather than Athletic Club’s ill-discipline.

He continued: “The first 20 minutes was difficult, the crowd was super loud, the intensity was high. They came after us, we made a few errors, looked nervous at times, but i thought the lads grew into it really well and we weathered the storm.

“We knew we would get our chances and we were really clinical.

“The tie is not done. We will be focused, we will be ready for the second leg.

“I’m sure [the Old Trafford atmosphere] will be like this place.”