Ruben Amorim shares positive update on Man Utd duo ahead of Athletic Club clash, ‘they can be in…’

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Manchester United take on Athletic Club in the first leg of their Europa League semi-final tie on Thursday night.

Ruben Amorim’s side trained at Carrington on Wednesday morning before flying out to Bilbao.

United’s head coach named a 26-man squad for the trip to Spain as he looks to keep the team’s unbeaten record in this year’s competition.

However, the Red Devils face an Athletic Club side that is unbeaten in their previous 10 home games, winning seven of them.

The Spanish side also won both meetings when these teams clashed in the Europa League back in 2012. United fans may remember a certain midfielder by the name Ander Herrera, who played for Marcelo Bielsa’s side in those games.

In what promises to be a close encounter, Athletic Club go into the first leg as favourites.

Manchester United welcome back Amad Diallo and Matthijs de Ligt

Amorim confirmed in the pre-match press conference that Amad Diallo and Matthijs de Ligt have returned to the squad to face Athletic Club.

Although the game will come too soon for both players to start, meaning they could feature as substitutes.

“To start, no,” Amorim told reporters when asked if the duo were ready for the first leg against Athletic Club.

“But they can be in the squad for the game.”

The pair took part in Wednesday’s open training session and were part of the squad thar flew to Vitoria Airport.

Amad hasn’t played a competitive game in almost three months and has since been recovering from an ankle injury. Meanwhile, De Ligt has been absent after sustaining an injury during United’s 1-0 defeat against Nottingham Forest.

Amorim added: “The rest of the players we have a game tomorrow then we have to train here Friday, so we need to prepare not just for this game, but also prepare the next game against Brentford.

“So we took a lot of especially young kids to prepare the next game.”

Manchester United injury list

Going into the first leg, United have six players out injured.

Joshua Zirkzee’s season came to an end when he picked up a hamstring injury in United’s 4-1 defeat to Newcastle earlier this month.

He joins Lisandro Martinez by having his season end prematurely.

Amorim will hope his injury listen doesn’t worsen between now and the end of the season.