Ruben Amorim reveals 'nervous' Man Utd duo and credits senior stars for Bilbao triumph

The Red Devils produced a good display to push aside Athletic Bilbao 3-0 in their own stadium with Bruno Fernandes scoring a brace after Casemiro's headed opener.

After good work down the right-hand side from Harry Maguire, Casemiro headed Man Utd in front on 30 minutes, with things quickly going from bad to worse for Bilbao minutes later.

VAR adjudged Dani Vivian to have brought down Rasmus Hojlund in the box and therefore denying him a goalscoring opportunity, with the referee producing a red card and giving a penalty.

Man Utd captain Fernandes stepped up to score the spot-kick before he doubled his tally on the stroke of half-time with a lovely whipped finish after Manuel Ugarte had flicked him through on goal.

After the match, Amorim credited Maguire, Fernandes and Casemiro for keeping everyone composed in a comfortable win at Estadio de San Mames.

Amorim said: "I think so, yes. It is a good point.

"You could feel it especially in the players, players like Ugarte, who has a lot of experience, he was a little bit nervous. Patrick was a little bit nervous. This is a semi-final, not a Champions League semi-final but a big final.

"But these kind of players, Harry, Casemiro, Bruno Fernandes, they help us a lot."

Despite the three-goal lead heading into the second leg, Amorim insists the tie is not over: "I think the result is really good but we have to understand the result also, at the same time. We struggled a lot in the beginning, but the goal from Casemiro and the sending off changed the game.

"But that is a good thing, with a little bit of luck we managed to stay in the game and anything can change with one situation. I think we had opportunities to score one more. This is not done.

"They can do the same in Old Trafford because they are really strong, they are really intense. One sending off can happen in our stadium, so we need to be prepared."

Maguire saved one of his best performances of the season for Bilbao and Amorim was impressed by the Man Utd centre-back, he added: "Sometimes you have these moments in your life, when everything he did was bad for him.

"I don't know a better word to describe it. Now everything he does is helping the team win important matches, so he needs to enjoy it and the players need to understand the life of a footballer is like that and everything can change in one moment."

Man Utd boss Amorim insists rotation will now be key, he continued: "Of course, we are in the advantage, we have our fans, but again this could change. Anything can happen in one game. Of course, we are confident but we need to be really careful with our players against Brentford, because you can feel it. Nous Mazraoui is dead (tired), Patrick is tired, so we have to manage the players."

When asked why Man Utd are so good in Europe compared to the Premier League, Amorim replied: "There is something in life and in sport: luck.

"We suffered some goals in the Premier League sometimes and we start the game losing 1-0 and then it's really hard. In the Europa League we had some luck this year in the key moments and then we play well."

READ MORE: I'll be back one day - Jose Riveiro's promise