Manchester United boss Ruben Amorim has stressed the importance of being ‘really careful’ with his players against Brentford this weekend. The Red Devils took control of their Europa League semi-final with a thumping 3-0 win over Athletic Club in Bilbao on Thursday evening.
But Amorim insists the tie is not over yet, and he will be desperate to keep his key men in top shape ahead of next week’s second leg at Old Trafford. The Portuguese admitted that two stars looked particularly leggy in the closing stages of United’s trip to Spain, hinting that they will play little or no part against the Bees next time out.
He told TNT Sports: “This is not done. They can do the same thing at Old Trafford. One red card can happen at our stadium so we need to be prepared. We have the advantage but this could change, anything can happen in one game.
“We are confident but we need to be really careful with our players against Brentford. You can feel that Noussair [Mazraoui] is dead, Patrick [Dorgu] is tired, so we have to manage the players.”
United’s Premier League season is effectively over with four games remaining. They are too far above the relegation zone to go down and too far behind the European spots to qualify via the conventional route, leaving the Europa League as their only source of motivation.
They couldn’t have hoped for a better first leg at San Mames, where the home crowd were stunned as United took a three-goal lead in the same first half that saw Dani Vivian sent off. Bruno Fernandes scored two of the goals and Casemiro bagged the other, which came after an unlikely piece of skill and a cross from Harry Maguire on the right wing.
“Maguire is a good winger,” joked Amorim. “Harry had moments where everything he did was wrong. Now everything he does is good for the team so he has to enjoy it.”
Maguire himself added: “I found myself attacking the back post, I think [Alejandro] Garna passed me 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 so they must’ve trusted me to put in the cross! It was a nice feeling and it was great header in the end.
“It was more important [to get] the win. It was a clinical first half and a professional second half. It was a great victory in the end but another big game next week.”
Content Source: www.express.co.uk