EUROPA League
Blistering first-half display helps Man United earn stunning victory in Bilbao
Three first-half goals helped Manchester United put themselves on the cusp of the Europa League final on Thursday, with the Premier League side earning a 3-0 semi-final first leg win away at Athletic Bilbao.
In a raucous San Memes atmosphere, with supporters dreaming of a first-ever European trophy, veteran midfielder Casemiro arrived at the back post to give the visitors the lead 30 minutes in.
United, who are having a miserable season domestically, were given another boost five minutes later as Bilbao defender Daniel Vivian was sent off for fouling Rasmus Hojlund in the penalty area, and Bruno Fernandes converted the resulting spot kick.
The United fans high in the top tier were in dreamland moments later as captain Fernandes raced through to put the seal on a victory, and perhaps even the tie, before the interval.
Bilbao, who have the added incentive that the final will be hosted at their own stadium on May 21, could not muster a response in the second half with depleted numbers, leaving United to coast to the most unlikely first-leg success.
“Of course it’s a great start, to get a victory here and score three goals and with a clean sheet,” United defender Harry Maguire told TNT Sports.
“All the pressure will be on us, everyone will be expecting us to go through. We need to prepare properly, and if we do that, we’ll give ourselves a great chance.
“One foot in the final, but it’s not done.”
The Europa League has been somewhat of a haven for United this term, where they can forget the fact that they are on course for their worst-ever Premier League points haul this term.
United travelled to Bilbao as the only unbeaten team in any European competition, but were up against their toughest challenge yet, with Bilbao sitting fourth in LaLiga, possessing the meanest defence in the division.
The Bilbao players fed off the crowd’s energy early on, creating the better of the initial chances. Inaki Williams should have scored from a close-range header, while Victor Lindelof came to United’s rescue with a timely block on the line.
Casemiro, however, arrived right on cue to swing the momentum in United’s favour. Norwegian referee Espen Eskas, after consulting the pitch-side monitor, adjudged that Vivian had denied Hojlund a clear goalscoring opportunity and thus branded a red card and pointed to the spot.
The composure shown by Bruno Fernandes as he calmly stroked home the penalty, despite the ear-splitting whistles from the cantankerous crowd, was astounding. The whistles had barely died down when the United skipper raced onto Manuel Ugarte’s flick to add a game-clinching third.
To highlight the contrast between United’s domestic and continental campaigns, they have now scored more goals in their seven Europa League games in 2025 than they have in their 15 Premier League games this calendar year.
They have also won more games in the Europa League since Ruben Amorim took over as coach than they have in the Premier League.
Casemiro could have even added a fourth but saw his second-half header come out off the post.
The job, however, was done. United’s success means 133 teams have won the first leg of a UEFA Cup or Europa League knockout stage tie by three or more goals away from home, and all 133 have won the tie.
“The penalty and the red card conditioned the game. At 11 against 11, we were doing well,” said Bilbao coach Ernesto Valverde. “The penalty and the red card were too great a punishment.
“It’s very clear we have taken a very bad result into the second game, but we have to play it. We are not giving up. We know it’s an adverse situation and who we have in front of us.”
-Reuters
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List of teams which have qualified for the next round of the Europa League after the league phase concluded on Thursday, ranked by table position:
Directly to the round of 16:
1. Olympique Lyonnais (France)
2. Aston Villa (England)
3. Midtjylland (Denmark)
4. Real Betis (Spain)
5. Porto (Portugal)
6. Braga (Portugal)
7. Freiburg (Germany)
8. AS Roma (Italy)
Knockout phase play-off places (seeded)
9. Genk (Belgium)
10. Bologna (Italy)
11. VfB Stuttgart (Germany)
12. Ferencvaros (Hungary)
13. Nottingham Forest (England)
14. Viktoria Plzen (Czech Republic)
15. Red Star Belgrade (Serbia)
16. Celta Vigo (Spain)
Knockout phase play-off places (unseeded)
17. PAOK (Greece)
18. Lille (France)
19. Fenerbahce (Turkey)
20. Panathinaikos (Greece)
21. Celtic (Scotland)
22. Ludogorets (Bulgaria)
23. Dinamo Zagreb (Croatia)
24. SK Brann (Norway)
-Reuters
UEFA Europa League – Aston Villa v RB Salzburg – Villa Park, Birmingham, Britain – January 29, 2026 Aston
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Israeli club Maccabi Tel Aviv will not accept any away fan tickets for their Europa League match at Aston Villa next month, even if local authorities reverse the decision to ban their supporters, they said on Monday.
The ban followed safety concerns raised by British Police, who cited potential protests outside Villa Park, following demonstrations at Israel’s recent World Cup qualifiers in Oslo and Udine.
“From hard lessons learned we have taken the decision to decline any allocation offered on behalf of away fans and our decision should be understood in that context,” Maccabi said in a statement.
“We hope that circumstances will change and look forward to being able to play in Birmingham in a sporting environment in the near future.”
Aston Villa announced the decision last week, saying they were following instructions from the Safety Advisory Group (SAG), who are responsible for issuing safety certificates for games at Villa Park.
West Midlands Police described the match as high risk, past incidents, including violent confrontations and hate crime offences involving Ajax and Maccabi Tel Aviv supporters ahead of a November 2024 game in Amsterdam.
Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar described the announcement as “shameful”.
Villa are third in the Europa League standings while Maccabi Tel Aviv are 30th after two rounds.
-Reuters
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Crystal Palace’s appeal against UEFA’s decision to drop them from the Europa League to the third-tier Conference League was dismissed by the Court of Arbitration for Sport on Monday.
UEFA demoted Palace while allowing Olympique Lyonnais to play in the Europa League as, at the time of assessment on March 1, the Eagle Football Group were majority owners of Lyon while their chairman, John Textor, owned a controlling stake in Palace.
Nottingham Forest, who finished seventh in the Premier League last season, will replace Palace in the Europa League.
“After considering the evidence, the panel found that John Textor, founder of Eagle Football Holdings, had shares in CPFC and OL and was a board member with decisive influence over both clubs at the time of UEFA’s assessment date,” the CAS said in a statement.
“The panel also dismissed the argument by CPFC that they received unfair treatment in comparison to Nottingham Forest and OL.”
Palace did not respond to a request for comment. Club chairman Steve Parish told reporters on Sunday that if Palace lost the appeal, they would “have to look if there’s any steps after that.”
The club, who qualified for the Europa League as FA Cup winners, appealed against UEFA’s decision last month.
The appeal came days before New York Jets co-owner Robert Wood “Woody” Johnson completed the purchase of Eagle Football Holdings’ stake in Palace.
Textor has also resigned from Lyon’s board of directors with Michele Kang appointed chairwoman and president.
As both Lyon and Palace had qualified for the Europa League, the French club were allowed to keep their place because they had finished higher in their respective league. Lyon finished sixth in Ligue 1 while Palace were 12th in the Premier League.
“Olympique Lyonnais welcomes today’s decision by the Court of Arbitration for Sport confirming its participation in the Europa League,” Lyon said in a statement.
Palace, who won the Community Shield on Sunday , beating Liverpool in a penalty shootout, are set to play in the Conference League’s qualifying playoff round later this month.
-Reuters
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