First of all, my apologies.

For some reason I’m still yet to discover, I thought the first Game would be in Manchester, and the 2nd Leg of this Semi-finals would be played in Bilbao, Spain.

Therefore, when 2 days ago, I saw the post of Manchester United’s Instagram Account saying “Next Stop – Spain” I knew I just made a mistake.

Therefore, I’m sorry for my lapse.

Writing about this Game isn’t an easy task.

It wasn’t as spectacular as one would predict.

The result was amazing, United keep showing improvements (even with not being not even close to perfection), but the Game itself wasn’t great.

And it was influenced by something that I personally think that should follow some common sense guidelines, what happened shouldn’t happen – double sanction to the offender, in this case to Athletic Bilbao.

Although the rules may say, assuming Bruno is correct when said in the end, that “if a player tries to tackle with his feet is yellow, but if the foul is made with the hands is red card”, (which I believe he meant something closer to a “gross misconduct”) even though, I truly think that, to the benefit of the Game, that situation cannot be considered within the scope of “gross misconduct”.

To be clear, if it was an aggressive or violent behavior, for me it was clear that no option besides a red-card.

However, the same foul in any other area of the field would be, at a maximum, a yellow card.

Therefore, assuming that the red card was only due to the position of the players and the foul itself, due to being a clear goal situation, that’s exactly why the penalty was given in the first place.

So, no reason for double-sanction.

Before that episode, the Game was even.

As expected, with Athletic Bilbao starting really hard, pushed by an amazing environment at the stadium, and with United being able to get advantage on some duels, with greater focus on set-pieces, despite many technical bad-decisions at times.

After the first 20 minutes, United was able to calm down and have some control over the match, making their first shot closer to the 30th minute.

Casemiro’s goal felt like a blessing.

Shortly after that, the red-card situation, penalty converted by Bruno and the Game totally changed.

Athletic’s fans wanted to leave the stadium, the team was completely lost tactically, 2 subs were made, and the score just got the widened after another goal by Bruno Fernandes.

Amazing finishing!

However, the decision-making, the technical and tactical awareness isn’t there, in many players.

As an example, even on the penalty situation, just a few seconds before the foul, Højlund had the ball at the central corridor and had, on the left side, Ugarte and Bruno arriving just behind the Uruguayan player against 1 defender (a potential 2v1 situation = 66/33 success rate), and on the right side, Garnacho against 1 defender (1v1 = 50/50 success rate).

And he chose Garnacho!

Another example, are the first touch of some players, even without being pressed.

Or, passing to the non-dominant feet of the colleague.

These small details, that majority wouldn’t even take a second to think about, are impacting United’s Game fluidity.

That merged with (another) Game where Højlund finishes the Game with ZERO shots taken, Garnacho had a 50% success rate on dribbling, ZERO successful crosses made and 1 shot on goal, explains a lot on why United keeps struggling to be consistent.

Bruno, on the other hand, made 4 shots (3 on target) and 4 successful crosses (6 attempts, or 67% success rate), Casemiro made 3 shots (2 on target) and Ugarte 2 (1 on target)…

The dominance was obvious, and we don’t need data to tell us that.

But, should it be different when you play with 1 more player for more than 55 minutes?

Additionally, some good news!
Really good news!

De Ligt and Amad Diallo are back on the field!
This means something really important – that United has more options now, even with crucial players as Martinez, Dalot or even Zirkzee out for the Season.

Therefore, step by step, the team continues their development process.

Growing slowly, with many ups and downs as expected, but positively growing, that’s for sure.

Now, Brentford on Sunday, away.

A very good platform to give a lot of minutes to players as De Ligt, Luke Shaw, Mainoo or Mount, and rest Mazraoui, Maguire, Yoro, Dorgu, Casemiro, Bruno or Garnacho.

Also, a great match for Fredricson, Amass, Ayden Heaven or Obi.

I would start with an XI closer to:
. Onana

. Amass

. Lindelöf

. De Ligt (60 min)

. Fredricson

. Luke Shaw

. Eriksen

. Ugarte

. Mount

. Mainoo

. Obi

And then, give important minutes to Amad, Heaven, Casemiro or Bruno to replace Ugarte.

It’s risky, we are all aware of that.

But the focus must be on Thursday!

And, these players there, are the ones may still have a chance to play an important role in the future of the Club – probably with the exception of Lindelöf or Eriksen.

Now it’s the time to prove it!

Finally, going back to the red-card episode, if you’ve been reading my texts and following my content, it’s no news when I say I’m biased by Ruben Amorim and Manchester United.

Now, there are values from those I cannot hide or run from, that are the at the foundation of my personality and very attached to the reasons I started this project of exposing myself (and my opinions) to the public’s view of not only me, but Football in general, which are based on Professionalism, Trust and Transparency, among others.

And, even if I truly want Ruben and United to win all the Games, there must be a space for common-sense, a space where we understand that some decisions are not great.

Because today is in my favor, but the next day may be against me and I want to feel heard in the same manner.

That’s what Sport is about – winning fairly.

Competition is key, strong competition is vital for growth.

And that’s exactly what I’m here to promote.

Let’s focus on Thursday (with Brentford in the middle), to guarantee the final!

As always, the data presented here is taken from sofascore website.