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Manchester United captain Bruno Fernandes delivered an inspired performance against Athletic Club in the UEFA Europa League (UEL) semi-finals first leg at the San Mames Stadium in Bilbao, to put his team in the box seat to make the final of the coveted tournament. The 30-year-old scored a brace during a 3-0 win for Manchester United over Athletic Club, a lead which they will carry to Old Trafford for next week’s second leg in front of their home fans.
Notably, the start to the UEL semi-finals first leg had a very high tempo with both the teams creating a couple of good chances to get on to the scoresheet in the first half. Athletic Club looked the more likely team to break the deadlock, but at the half hour mark, Harry Maguire found himself on the right wing, and he managed to deliver a great ball into the six-yard box, which was helped on its way by Manuel Ugarte before an unmarked Casemiro at the back post calmly slotted it into the back of the net.
Bruno Fernandes scores two goals within space of eight minutes for Manchester United
After taking the lead, Manchester United got onto the front foot, and it all started to unravel for Athletic Club when Dani Vivian seemingly brought down Rasmus Hojlund in the six-yard box as the striker was in a goal-scoring position. After the referee didn’t deem it to be a penalty, the video assistant referee (VAR) intervened before asking the referee to take an another look at the challenge at the pitch side monitor, and he ended up reversing his decision, not only giving Manchester United a penalty, but also sending off Dani Vivian to the sheer disbelief and disgust of the Athletic Club players, support staff, and fans.
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Bruno Fernandes stepped up to take the penalty for Manchester United in the 37th minute, and he sent goalkeeper Julen Agirrezabala the wrong way before putting the ball to the right for his first goal of the night, giving Manchester United a 2-0 lead. In the 45th minute, he made it 3-0 for Manchester United after being set goalbound with a delightful pass by Manuel Ugarte, finding the far right corner past the opposition goalie.
Noussair Mazraoui rattled the post in the first half injury time for Manchester United before a dominant performance from the visitors in the second half saw them come close to scoring the fourth goal on multiple occasions. Casemiro could have had the second goal of the night from a header, but his effort could only come off the near post after meeting the corner with a picture perfect effort from the right-side.
