Ruben Amorim paid tribute to the much-maligned Harry Maguire after the defender helped inspire one of Manchester United’s best-ever European away results.
“He’s a good winger! We all have moments where everything we do in our lives seems wrong, and everything Harry does right now is good for the team,” the United head coach said after Maguire’s skilful, unprecedented wing play and cross created the opening goal in the emphatic 3-0 Europa League semi-final first-leg win away to Athletic Bilbao.
MAN UNITED TAKE THE LEAD!
Casemiro opens the scoring after some excellent footwork from Harry Maguire 🎯
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— Football on TNT Sports (@footballontnt) May 1, 2025
“It’s a good lesson for all the players. Sometimes you have some moments when you think, ‘I will never recover from this or that’. It’s not just Harry. The history of the game tells you that. We were struggling a lot and now maybe everyone is saying that was maybe the best game for us.”
The contribution followed Maguire’s dramatic, last-gasp header as a makeshift centre-forward to win the quarter-final in extra-time against Lyon and set up this tie.
HARRY MAGUIRE DOES IT AGAIN! 🚨
Man United have completed the comeback ✅
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Maguire’s dribble even led to the 32-year-old, who lost the captaincy while United tried to sell him under Amorim’s predecessor Erik ten Hag, being dubbed “Harrydinho” on social media.
“I’m sure there are a few nicknames for me out there,” the centre-half said ruefully afterwards, while he claimed the margin of the result means United now have “one foot in the final”, which is being played on May 21, also in Bilbao.
“I think Garna [Alejandro Garnacho] passed the ball, it was nice to do a bit of dribbling and put in a great cross. We had a lot of bodies in the box and they must have trusted me to put in the cross,” Maguire said before adding of next Thursday’s second leg: “All the pressure will be on us, everyone will be expecting us to go through. We need to prepare properly, and if we do that we’ll give ourselves a great chance. One foot in the final, but it’s not done.”
United captain Bruno Fernandes said: “No one was expecting that [Maguire’s wing play]. Harry is a much more confident man now. His position is becoming more and more strong. He just keeps improving, he’s a very good leader.”
On pundit duties, Maguire’s former United team-mate Phil Jones added: “I didn’t know he had it in him. To be honest I never saw it in training but fair play, great ball in.”
Unsurprisingly, Amorim pleaded caution over the result and the expectation that United will reach the final and pointed to the opening period of the game when Bilbao were a threat.
“They [the United players] have to think about the first 20 minutes because it is going to be really tough,” Amorim said before adding: “I think it’s the best result because no one expected this result. But you saw two games today. The first 20 minutes and then after the sending-off [with Athletic defender Daniel Vivian dismissed as he conceded the penalty].”
Asked to explain the difference between United’s form in Europe and their woeful struggles in the Premier League, Amorim said: “I think it’s hard to explain. We have improved in the last games. Sometimes you need a little bit luck. They had chances and if they had scored it would have been a different game. We can win this competition and in the Premier League we are just suffering game after game.”
Athletic Bilbao coach Ernesto Valverde was defiant, claiming there had been a handball by Garnacho in the build-up to the first goal and added: “Of course this is a very bad result and that is what we take to Old Trafford. But we feel that when we play 11 v 11 there was a difference in our favour rather than their favour. In my opinion it was not a penalty and not a sending-off and with 11 we would have won.”