The rescue act is on for Manchester United and Tottenham.
Big wins for both teams in the first legs of the Europa League semifinals on Thursday kept alive their hopes of lifting a major trophy and qualifying for the Champions League.
United beat Athletic Bilbao 3-0 at the San Mames in Spain and Tottenham won 3-1 at home against Norwegian club Bodo/Glimt.
Both United and Spurs have endured miserable domestic campaigns and are languishing in the bottom half of the Premier League. But European club soccer’s second-tier Europa League could yet see one of them salvage their season.
Not only is silverware on the line, but so is an unlikely route to the lucrative Champions League as the prize for winning the competition.
United in control
United produced possibly its finest performance of the season to take a commanding first-leg lead against 10-man Bilbao.
Casemiro headed Ruben Amorim’s team in front in the 30th minute after a cross from Harry Maguire.
It was 2-0 seven minutes later when Rasmus Hojlund was brought down in the box by Dani Vivian and a penalty was awarded after a VAR review. Vivian was shown a red card for the foul and Bruno Fernandes converted from the spot.
Fernandes got his second and United’s third in the 45th when he ran through on goal and curled a shot past goalkeeper Julen Agirrezabala.
The United captain has now scored 19 goals and provided 16 assists in all competitions this season. According the statistician Opta, Liverpool’s Mohamed Salah is the only Premier League player to have made more goal contributions this term with 56.
“I want to score goals, I want to be involved. I know one of my qualities is getting goals and making assists, so I just need to keep going,” Fernandes said.
United’s win could have been even more emphatic with Noussair Mazraoui and Casemiro both hitting the woodwork.
The second leg is at Old Trafford next Thursday and United is potentially just 90 minutes away from returning to Bilbao, which is staging the final on May 21.
The run in Europe is in stark contrast to United’s terrible domestic form, which will see it end the season with a club-record low-points total and its lowest position in the Premier League era.
Sitting 14th in the standings, United has never looked likely to challenge for Champions League qualification through its league placing. But it has saved some spectacular performances for the Europa League — including the epic comeback against Lyon in the quarterfinals when it rallied from 4-2 down in extra time to win 5-4.
Amorim, however, warned against complacency in the second leg.
“They (Bilbao) can do the same thing in Old Trafford because they are really strong, they are really intense,” he said. “Of course, we are in the advantage. We have our fans, but again, this could change.”
Tottenham leads
Under-pressure Tottenham manager Ange Postecoglou could yet live up to his proclamation that he always wins a trophy in his second season.
That record — which was carried through with former clubs Brisbane Roar, Yokohama F Marinos and Celtic — has looked in serious jeopardy for much of a season that has seen Spurs lose 19 times in the league.
But a 3-1 win against Bodo/Glimt at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium will fuel belief that Postecoglou could deliver the goods again.
Spurs were ahead inside a minute through Brennan Johnson, and James Maddison doubled the lead 34th.
Dominic Solanke’s penalty in the 61st made it 3-0, but Ulrik Saltnes gave the Norwegians hope ahead of next week’s return leg in Norway by pulling a goal back in the 83rd.
“I don’t think the scoreline reflects our dominance, but at the end of the first leg, all you want is to be in a good position and we’ve got ourselves into a good position,” Postecoglou said.
UEFA Conference League
Chelsea completed a good night for English teams by beating Djurgarden 4-1 in Sweden in the first leg of their UEFA Conference League semifinal. Nicolas Jackson scored twice in the win.
Real Betis won 2-1 against Fiorentina with on-loan Manchester United forward Antony getting a goal to maintain his impressive form since moving to Spain.
___
James Robson is at https://twitter.com/jamesalanrobson
___
AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer
