Manchester United legend in the making, Bruno Fernandes, once again stepped up when it mattered and made new history for the Europa League in the process.
It was another positive night for Manchester United in the Europa League as the Red Devils picked up a 3-0 win over Athletic Club in the semi-final first leg.
A frantic first half saw Ruben Amorim’s side head into the break with a three-goal lead and Bilbao down to just 10 men.
From here, United controlled the game with an experienced team on the pitch, making light work of a supposedly tough task which had been expected at San Mames
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The scoring was opened for United with Casemiro finishing a move started by Harry Maguire’s dribbling on the right wing, where he beat the defender before delivering a peach of a cross.
United’s lead doubled and then tripled with Bruno Fernandes scoring both of the goals for his 19th of the season, along with 16 assists.
The goals have resulted in records being broken.
Bruno Fernandes reaches legendary status in the Europa League
Bruno Fernandes is rapidly becoming a United legend, with more silverware the only thing now denying that argument from being made.
No matter how bad the team around him is, Fernandes always turns up and has somehow tallied up 35 goal contributions this season despite it being the worst campaign in recent memory.
Thursday was no different with Fernandes scoring twice to help guide United – surely – through to a Europa League final in Bilbao next month.
With these two goals, Fernandes took himself four away from hitting 100 in a United shirt, while it also meant further history was made in the Europa League.
In March, Fernandes became the player to score the most penalties in Europa League history – a figure which has further grown now to 12 after the ties against Lyon and Bilbao.
On Thursday night, Fernandes made more history as he became the first player in Europa League history to registering 30+ goal contributions in the knockout stage – something he has acheived in just 32 games as per TNT Sports.
This took his total in the competition to 49 goal contributions in 56 games, 29 of which coming for United. But to some, this is not a record to be celebrated.
Bruno Fernandes’ Europa League record shows two things for Manchester United
To have 30 or more contributions in the knockout stage of the Europa League speaks volumes for Fernandes regarding how brilliant he is and how key he has been for years.
Fernandes always turns up when he is needed in the big knockout games, but in order to have made history it comes with a reminder of how United’s levels have dropped.
There was a time when the Europa League was a consolation for United, a rarity to be involved in the second tier competition in Europe, but over the past decade it has been all too frequent.
United will be hoping this is the last season that Europa League football is on the cards with Champions League football for sustained periods the goal now to help get the club back to where it belongs.
As brilliant as Fernandes is, he will hopefully be doing this in the Champions League next season, with a run in the tournament long overdue.
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