With the Spaniard’s home record this season, it was never going to be an easy place for us to go to, but interviews with players today showed that they were up for the fight, and confident of a win, but a 23^rd minute Fernando Llorente goal saw that confidence slowly fade in tonight’s United side.

Llorente proved a tough act to pin down in the first leg, and showed the same character this evening, firing home a superb volley from the edge of the box, that shot out of reach for 20-year-old David De Gea and under his arm into the bottom left corner of the Reds’ goal.

The deafening support proved vital to the home side, and seemed to lift them throughout the 90 minutes. Bilbao fans had an extremely loud voice on their visit to Old Trafford, so both players and fans travelling to the San Mamés expected thunderous support.

Chance after chance came for the Spaniards, as they were constantly pressing throughout the first half. Their run then continued in the second half, and it came as no surprise that the La Liga side went 2-0 up on the 66^th minute mark with an Oscar de Marcos goal, who caught a rebound shot and deflected into the top of De Gea’s goal, completely out of his reach.

United players seemed bewildered by Bilbao’s incessant pressing and constant possession, and struggled to hold onto the ball, or do much with it once we had it. There was solid link up play between Paul Pogba, Ji Sung Park and Tom Cleverley that sparked a glimmer of hope at times for the Reds, but Jon Aurtenetxe broke it up on numerous occasions.

Aurtenetxe was another player for the hosts who held himself well, who at one point sent Andoni Iraola, who was completely unmarked off on a run, who then found Gaizka Toquero inside the box, but his header was sent over the crossbar.

New hope came for the Reds on the 80^th minute mark, when Wayne Rooney created his own space and drove the ball into the Athletic Club goal from 25 yards, giving United a flicker of optimism, with 10 minutes to score 2 goals in order to allow the game to go to extra time – if United were going to get through, it was going to be a tough ten minutes, and almost reflect the ’99 final, with clinical finishes required, and fast.

The next ten minutes proved to be the contrary, and Rooney’s goal seemed to do the opposite to the Basque side, and lifted them to defend and hold onto their possession for the remainder of the game.

Athletic Club have showed constant class throughout their European campaign, and personally, I wish them the best of success, simply for their passionate fans, as they deserve to see their club in a final, simply for their thirst for success for their club alone.

Now United are out of the Europa League, we can only think positively about the remainder of the season, and see it as more of a blessing, as we can now fully focus on holding onto our top spot in the Premier League.

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Date: 15th March 2012
Venue: San Mamés
Capacity: 40,000
Referee: Cuneyt Cakir

Bilbao’s star name Llorente was a doubt earlier in the week because he didn’t train for a couple of days, although yesterday he was passed fit and is in contention to lead the line. The home side racked up 38 shots on goal at Old Trafford and they played some sublime football.

Manchester United welcome back Tom Cleverley after an ankle injury and Antonio Valencia is back in the squad after spending four weeks on the sidelines, recovering from a hamstring injury. Three names don’t travel though; Nani, Jones and Anderson are all ruled out with the latter expected to face up to five weeks without any football.

As they shown at Old Trafford, Bilbao love to get forward and attack – they did this to devastating effect last week and their front three are sure to pose problems again tonight, perhaps the reason behind Ferguson going with the experience of Ferdinand and Evans at the back. United love to attack too, with the likes of Ashley Young in the form he’s in I expect plenty of chances in this game.

Men to watch
Fernando Llorente: The Spaniard was a handful at Old Trafford last week, holding the ball up well, so he will be looking to do the same tonight.

Wayne Rooney: The United talisman will have to be at his best if the Premier League champions are to progress to the quarter finals.

Last meeting: Bilbao bossed the game at Old Trafford and are unfortunate to only be one goal in front; a Wayne Rooney penalty in stoppage time meant Athletic Club bring a 3-2 lead to Spain.

Prediction: United have enough about them to progress, but they have to be at their very best to tackle a tricky Bilbao who like to get forward like ourselves.

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Rooney has today spoken out and said: “We have to be confident, they obviously played some great football at Old Trafford and deserved to win. We’ll be going out there to do our best to win and get through to the next round because this is a competition we want to win.”

With the Spaniards having a one-goal lead, and three away goals, tonight will prove difficult for the Reds, but players and staff seem up for the challenge, despite the impressive home record the home side have at the San Mamés.

Coverage of tonight’s game is live on Channel 5 from 5.15, and kick off is at 6pm.

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There are two noticeable absences on the flight to Athletico Bilbao – Phil Jones and Nani.

Nani was absent in the game versus West Brom on Sunday with what Fergie described as a knock, and nothing to worry about, but Jones made a noticeable appearance, and was one of our best players of the day.

On Sunday, United showed their old selves, we were pushing, and creating some great chances throughout the 90 minutes, which we haven’t seen happen in the last few months.

This win over West Brom proved vital in the title challenge, as defeat at Swansea saw City drop points and saw us take the Premier League top spot by a point.

With this, the absence of Phil Jones and Nani has left fans wondering whether Fergie now has all eyes on United lifting the twentieth title, with all focus being on Sunday’s trip to Wolves.

Although both Jones and Nani are missing, Fergie has taken a strong squad over, and has recently said he believes we can win away, and go through to the final 16 in the Europa League.

Another talking point has been the inclusion of Paul Pogba. Once again, Pogba is at the front of transfer rumours today, with fans and journalists now left wondering whether he has signed a new contract, and if he has United are certainly keeping the official word ‘hush hush’.

The inclusion of Pogba in Sunday’s squad and tomorrow’s does make us wonder whether he is staying, though. As we saw with Ravel Morrison, Fergie takes no prisoners, and if a player were to think he were bigger then the club (especially at 18) he would not be considered in the first team, let alone travel to Spain with them.

As always, Sir Alex has left it to us to decide, and is giving nothing away with regards to Pogba’s new contract.

The full team travelling to Spain is as follows: De Gea, Amos, Evans, Evra, Fabio, Ferdinand, Rafael, Smalling, Carrick, Cleverley, Giggs, Park, Pogba, Scholes, Young, Valencia, Berbatov, Rooney, Hernandez, Welbeck.

Once again the Europa League offered the Old Trafford crowd a lively start to a game. Both sides looked to play on the front foot and attack each other from the whistle. Bilbao’s confidence was high going into to the game having won their previous four matches.

It was United who threatened first when Giggs slipped in Javier Hernandez whos shot was blocked. It was a promising start but it was Bilbao who controlled the first half and looked the most dangerous, with striker Llorente causing United the greatest problems. Far the large part the game was end to end with United producing some good build up play. They were sloppy however, Rooney in particular not looking switched on, giving the ball away too easily and not releasing it early at times when Hernandez’s movement could have let him in.

When the moves did brake down Bilbao counter attacked with pace and numbers. A lack of pressing in the United midfield generally allowed Bilbao to build and come forward with dangerous intent, the United defence had to be on its toes. With Bilbao having the lions share of possession their confidence, already high, was increasing as they put United under more and more pressure. Led by Johnny Evens, who was in excellent form, the defence was holding out. David De Gea was also on his game, reading play well and being alert of the danger. Having had a threat from the outset there were few moments which left United fans with their hearts in their mouths, however.

Given that Bilbao had the greater posession and greater threat, Uniteds own attacking threat was restricted to only a few occasions. So when they took the lead on 22 minutes it was against the run of play. Not that it matters. Giggs picked the ball up halfway into the Bilbao half and forced his way through the Bilbao midfield before putting in Hernandez who turned two defenders allowing hiself space to shoot. He should have finished it himself but his shot was saved, only for Rooney to power home the rebound from 5 yards.

Any thought, however, that the game would now change , United taking control and Bilbao sitting back to sustain any United future threat, was immediately rubbished as Bilbao once again came at United. The pattern of the game did not change in the slightest. Llorente came close with a header from just yards out before Susaeta latched onto a ball over the top before trying to lift the ball over De Gea. Fortunately for United it drifted wide. De Gea was soon forced into making a save low down to his near post.

With the pressure building, it was no surprise when Llorente headed an equaliser a minute before the break after Phil Jones allowed him to trot past him into the box unchallenged.

Not content with an away goal and holding out for a draw, Bilbao flew out the traps in the second half. Relentlessly, they produced wave after wave of attacks for the 1st 10 minutes. United never had a sniff. If not for the excellence of De Gea in the United goal producing 3 brilliant saves the game, and even the tie, could have been over.

With the United midfield being over run the introduction of Michael Carrick settled them a little. It was unfortunate though that he came on for Chris Smalling, whos head wound sustained on England duty had opened up again. Having settled a little, United still struggled to get behind the Bilbao defence and offered little threat. Anderson had also joined 5 minutes after Carrick, but lacking in match practise didn’t find himself overly involved.

Bilbao took the lead via a De Marcos goal in the 72nd minute. No doubting he was offside when he swivelled onto a delightful chip over the United back line, but there was no argument that Bilbao deserved their lead. Once again Bilbao didn’t rest on their laurels and kept looking to attack United and increase their advantage.

With Nani coming on for Giggs, United were patient in their build up play but never really threatened the Bilbao goal with any verve. Hernandez had our best chance when he was found in space just inside the box. However, rather than electing to shoot he chose to try and cut back in on his left foot, presumably looking to bend one into the far corner. It was the wrong decision though as his effort was blocked. A Wayne Rooney shot was the only other really notable effort on goal, his powerful shot moved about a lot but ultimately was straight at the keeper. Other than that, a half hearted penalty appeal was waved away.

In bizzar circumstances Bilbao scored a third. With United building what looked to be one of their more dangerous attacks in the 90th minute, Patrice Evra lost a boot. When Ashley Young played the ball to him, Evra passed to Rooney with his bootless foot. The referee called for an infringement against Evra. It appears that by the letter of the law the referee was correct to call a foul, but it is not something I have ever seen before. The free kick was taken quickly, long up field. There should have been little danger but when Evens and Jones both went up for the headed clearance the ball broke loose. De Marcos got onto the loose ball and fired a rifling shot across goal which was saved brilliantly again by De Gea, who palmed the ball wide and away from goal. That would have been the end of the attack if it wasn’t for Rafael ball watching. He had no awareness that Iker Muniain was running onto the ball and simply ball watched as De Gea, who was alert, rushed to close Muniain down. His efforts were in vain though as Muniain fired high into the United goal. This was a comedy of errors from the United defence. It was very disappointing to see Rafael make a mistake as simple as that as he has been in very good form lately, but he should have been aware of what was going on a he was just a few yards from the parried ball.

A life line was handed to United in the 2nd minute of injury time when they were awarded a penalty, De Marcos handling in the box. Rooney stepped up to emphatically score from the spot. United were now awake and spent the final minute or so on the attack, forcing a couple of corners. With the time against them however an equaliser was too much to ask.

So it was yet another poor and disappointing European performance. Sir Alex Ferguson says he his taking the Europa League seriously, but perhaps not all his players are: with some individuals putting in lack lustre performances. Perhaps Thursday nights on Channel 5 are indeed an unwanted distraction from the biggest prise of all, the Premier League title.

On a night full of negatives, there is one massive positive to finish on. That is the performance once again of of David De Gea. In recent weeks he has been nothing short of world class, and has been vital during Uniteds current run the league. The best part of all is that he is improving game by game. His critics must be devastated.

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However, Sir Alex Ferguson has called upon his team to ‘wake up’ after suffering a 2-1 defeat to Ajax in the second leg of the previous round. Complacency was a key factor of that poor performance and I can’t see us progressing to the quarter-finals if we continue with that attitude against the weaker teams.

The Spanish club are currently sitting fifth in the league ahead of big-spenders Malaga. All eyes, including mine, will be on Javi Martinez tonight. From the age of 19, the midfielder was captain of Spain’s U21 side which contained our very own David de Gea. Although, his impact in midfield has been limited this season with Marcelo Bielsa opting to play him within the back four.

Starting eleven: David de Gea; Rafael da Silva, Chris Smalling, Jonny Evans, Patrice Evra; Ji-sung Park, Phil Jones, Ryan Giggs, Ashley Young; Wayne Rooney, Javier Hernandez.

Bench: Ben Amos, Fabio da Silva, Rio Ferdinand, Anderson, Michael Carrick, Luis Nani, Danny Welbeck.

Officials
Referee: Florian Meyer
Assistant referees: Holger Henschel, Jan-Hendrik Salver
Additional assistant referees: Deniz Aytekin, Markus Wingenbach
Fourth official: Michael Weiner

Sir Alex Ferguson chose a side which contained largely the squads youth element. In fact you could have thought you had been sent forward in time 4 or 5 years when you saw that the back four consisted of Rafael, Jones, Smalling and Fabio, with David De Gea keeping goal. The young defence was selected along with those such as Berbatov, Park, Nani and Tom Cleverley who required match practise and fitness ahead of the weekends fixture at Norwich.

Both teams started the game very brightly with United wanting to kill the tie off early and Ajax wanting to give themselves a chance of pulling back the two goal deficit from the 1st leg. United came close to taking the lead within the 1st minute when Nani cut in from the left to only see his rasping shot parried by the Ajax keeper just out of the reach of Park. Ajax responded with two early attacks of their own and forced the United defence to concede two early corners. Both were taken by United target Christian Eriksen, both were up to United standards as they came to nothing. The end to end theme continued when Berbatov almost slipped Nani in down the channel, this time the Ajax defence was alert to the threat and Nani was forced off the ball before he could take it into his stride.

Berbatov however only had to wait a minute more before picking a pass that would lead to a United goal. In the 6th minute Park stole the ball in midfield and looked to start an attack by forwarding the ball to Berbatov who looked up to see Hernandez on the shoulder of the last defender, as is expected. His pin point pass aloud Hernandez time to wrong foot his marker and slot cooly home to give United an early lead and, all bar the shouting, surely finish the tie off.

You could have forgiven Ajax for letting their heads drop now as they needed to score three times without response at Old Trafford. Ajax heads didn’t drop however, and they went on the offensive. Their tempo increased and were taking every opportunity to shoot at goal. For all their possession, and attempts to test De Gea, Uniteds defence hadn’t been overly concerned. The threat was certainly there, but the end product in and around the United box was lacking.

With that in mind The Reds felt as if they could afford themselves to be a little more patient on the ball, picking and choosing the right moments when to go on the offensive. When they did attack Ajax, United found themselves in good positions. Berbatov again at the centre of Uniteds opportunities, though perhaps lacking in a little confidence found himself trying to square a ball in the box when on other days he would have tested the keeper himself. A desire as always from Rafael and Fabio to get forward always gave United options and both found themselves in good shooting positions, but never troubled the Ajax Goalkeeper.

Meanwhile, Ajax were still working hard getting forward, pressing United and trying to create chances. It wasn’t until the 24th minute though that De Gea was tested. Ozbiliz won the ball on the right deep in the United half and shot on target. The angle was against the Ajax man but De Gea still had to react quickly and did very well to hold the shot, diving to his right. Ajax’s hard work eventually paid off in the 37th minute. Attacking down the right, Ajax centred the ball which found its way to Ozbiliz on the edge of the box who struck the ball early, low to De Gea’s right giving him no chance.

The Reds were sparked into life by the equaliser and immediately went on the attack, coming close twice in the same move. First from Nani, once again cutting in from the left and forcing the keeper to parry his shot. That parry resulted in Rafael picking the ball up and moving to the wing where his cross met Hernandez who tried to swivel to get his shot away. It would have been some finish but he couldn’t quite connect properly and the ball found its way harmlessly to the keeper.

Going in level at half time was disappointing but United had come under pressure from Ajax but had defended resolutely. Going forward The Reds looked reasonable, and chances were coming.

The 2nd half started with Ajax really asking questions of United. For 20 minutes, in fact, it was all Ajax, wave after wave of attack and now they looked more dangerous than in the previous half. Much of the pressure was a result of Ajax really pressing United in the midfield, forcing Cleverley (who is not yet fully match fit) and Park into mistakes which were inviting Ajax onto them. However, the United defence was holding out well for the large part. An Ajax corner though brought a magnificent save from De Gea. United had switched off, allowing Seim a free header which he powerfully connected with. Only excellent reactions and strong hands from De Gea kept the scores level.

Ferguson responded by bringing on Johnny Evens and Paul Scholes for Cleverley and the extremely ineffective Ashley Young. It took a few minutes for the desired effect to take place, with Scholes and Evens getting used to the Ajax tempo. Once Scholes had found his feet though United gained some control, holding the ball much better and taking the sting out of the game. The introduction of Welbeck for Berbatov also gave United some more life further up the pitch for Ajax, who now looked to be running out of steam, something else to deal with.

With United now looking more composed they finally looked to pose a threat in the final 20 minutes. Nani again coming closest, this time cutting in from the right and thundering a shot passed the helpless keeper on to the cross bar. The fresh legs of Welbeck also troubled the Ajax defence when he broke down the right. Unfortunately his good run only led to a corner when his squared ball to Hernandez in the box was cleared for a corner.

Having been under so much pressure throughout the match, Uniteds yound defence can be praised as they delt with pretty much everything which was thrown at them. However, a lesson was learned when an Ozbiliz free kick 3 minutes from time was floated into the box. Uniteds defence switched off completely and allowed runners to attack the ball freely. One of them, Alerwiereld, found himself on the end of the free kick to head home and give Ferguson’s men a nervy final few minutes.

United held out and took the tie 3-2 on aggregate and will now meet Athletic Bilbao. Once again we do things the hard way.

You can follow Adam on Twitter: @adamsupra_MUFC

Our noisy neighbors are currently in a similar position after hammering a weak FC Porto side 4-0 last night. So, as predicted, this comes as a result of Thursday night football. The only Saturday game we had left to play was against Swansea in May. However, in January the Premier League agreed to move their matches back 24 hours to avoid clashing with the FA Cup final which is to be held on the Saturday afternoon.

The following fixtures have been changed:
Queens Park Rangers (H) Sunday 8 April (1.30pm Sky Sports)
Wigan (A) Wednesday 11 April (7.45 WatchMUFC)
Aston Villa (H) Sunday 15 April (4pm Sky Sports)
Everton (H) Sunday 22 April (12:30 Sky Sports)
Manchester City (A) Monday 30 April (8pm Sky Sports)

Starting eleven: David de Gea; Rafael da Silva, Chris Smalling, Phil Jones, Fabio da Silva; Luis Nani, Tom Cleverley, Ji-sung Park, Ashley Young; Dimitar Berbatov, Javier Hernandez.

Bench: Ben Amos, Patrice Evra, Jonny Evans, Ryan Giggs, Michael Carrick, Danny Welbeck, Paul Scholes.

We’re predicting a 3-0 win for United.

Rooney played a part in the United team who won their opening match 2-0 in the Amsterdam Arena last Thursday. However, the Reds have another eight games if they’re to make the final in May.

The team face Ajax in the second-leg next Thursday at Old Trafford and in preparation, Rooney said: “I’ve no concerns about it hindering our progress in the league – not at all. I’m really looking forward to the rest of this competition. It’s a new challenge for all of us. There’s no point being in a competition if you aren’t going to try to win it and the manager has shown he is going to put out strong teams. It would be great to be the first United team to win this trophy – and that’s our aim.”