Ruben Amorim has confirmed that defender Matthijs de Ligt will not feature for Manchester United against Athletic Bilbao in the second leg of their Europa League semi-final at Old Trafford
Manchester United will be without half a dozen players including defender Matthijs de Ligt for Thursday night’s Europa League semi-final second leg against Athletic Club due to injury.
Netherlands defender De Ligt is also set to miss the weekend fixture against West Ham United despite head coach Ruben Amorim insisting that the muscle injury picked up in the 4-3 defeat away to Brentford last week is not a serious one. He joins long-term absentees Lisandro Martinez, Diogo Dalot and Joshua Zirkzee on the sidelines, with Ayden Heaven and Toby Collyer also still unavailable.
“It is not a big issue, that is the good thing,” Amorim said on Wednesday at his pre-match press conference. “He cannot play tomorrow or Sunday (against West Ham United) but then we will check day by day. The rest I think Ayden doesn’t recover, Toby is not available and I think that is it.”
United lead 3-0 after last week’s first leg at San Mames and will face Premier League rivals Tottenham Hotspur or Norwegian champions Bodo/Glimt in the final later this month.
READ MORE: Ruben Amorim issues worrying Man Utd message amid ‘worst season in history’READ MORE: Manchester United stars handed Athletic Bilbao warning despite 3-0 semi-final lead
Athletic Club, however, arrive in Manchester with an even bigger hole in their side after both Nico and Inaki Williams were ruled out.
Top scorer Oihan Sancet missed the first leg through injury and has not recovered in time to play a part at Old Trafford. Dani Vivian will also miss out, with the defender’s red card in the first leg earning him a suspension.
Despite the apparent advantage in terms of available personnel, Amorim has admitted he does not know which version of his team will turn up at Old Trafford.
“Yeah, it’s hard to say. Sometimes, it’s not what kind of team we will be tomorrow,” Amorim said at his pre-match press conference on Wednesday afternoon.
“If you look at our team, we cannot say today what is going to happen. There are some teams in any league that can understand that the game is going to be like this.
“Things can change a little bit, but the story is going to be like this and we can control the narrative of the game. We cannot do that.
“So we have to face the game as just one more game. I feel that we need to score to go to the next round, so that’s clearly the way we are going to face the game.”
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