The Spanish press has given a damning verdict on Ruben Amorim’s Manchester United ahead of their Europa League semi-final against Athletic Club.
The Red Devils booked their place in the last four with a dramatic 7-6 aggregate win over Olympique Lyonnais last week.
United remain unbeaten after 12 matches in the Europa League this season but their domestic form has been far poorer.
They find themselves 14th in the Premier League table, just two points above 17th placed West Ham United after 33 matches.
Yesterday’s 0-1 home defeat to Wolverhampton Wanderers was the club’s 15th of the season in what will be their worst ever Premier League season in terms of points collected and final position.
Subsequently, Spanish newspaper AS are far from concerned about the threat United pose and have claimed Athletic Club are big favourites to get through to the final.
Commenting on United they claim, “Manchester United, with more history than football and a very anarchic team, isn’t much of a threat.”
The outlet stated that the chaotic quarter-final against Lyon was the “perfect definition” of how United are.
Painting the Red Devils in a further negative light, the paper claimed that Ruben Amorim’s side are “capable of the best and the worst, without any established order” and are “much more dangerous in chaos, thanks to their fast and powerful players.”
They particularly highlight the “erratic” Andre Onana as a weak spot in the team and also the “little firepower” in attack of Joshua Zirkzee and Rasmus Hojlund.
Nonetheless, there is praise for Bruno Fernandes and Alejandro Garnacho and AS claim that the English side’s biggest threat to Bilbao is that they have “much more to gain than to lose”.
Athletic Club have certainly enjoyed a successful season, sitting fourth in La Liga table and having lost only five league matches all season.
Nonetheless, as Thursday night and years of history have demonstrated, teams underestimate United at their own peril.
Featured image Carl Recine via Getty Images
Follow us on Bluesky: @peoplesperson.bsky.social
Alex Browne
Alex is a huge Manchester United fan, inspired by greats of his homeland such as George Best, Harry Gregg and Norman Whiteside. Proud owner of such niche shirts such as Kleberson, Eric Djemba-Djemba and Gary Neville. Grew up pretending to be Ruud van Nistelrooy and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer in the back garden, with little success.
