Athletic Bilbao v Manchester United LIVE: Europa League team news, line-ups and updates tonight

Amad Diallo and Matthijs de Ligt have travelled to Bilbao after recovering from injury but are not fit enough to start. United remain without Joshua Zirkzee and Lisandro Martinez while Diogo Dalot has joined the injury list and Chido Obi is not able to feature in Europe.

Athletic Bilbao’s top scorer Oihan Sancet has been ruled out of the first leg. Spain’s No 1 goalkeeper Unai Simon has not played regularly in the Europa League this season but could start ahead of Julen Agirrezabala. Star man Nico Williams is fit.

So line-ups will be dropping shortly. A reminder of team news…

Manchester United will be out to upset Athletic Club’s Europa League dream as Ruben Amorim’s side travel to Bilbao for the first leg of the semi-finals.

Bilbao will host the Europa League final at the San Mames on May 21 and the Basque side will be desperate to try and win a first European honour at their home stadium.

Standing in their way is a Manchester United team who have underperformed in the Premier League this season but could rescue their campaign by lifting the trophy.

United kept their hopes alive thanks to an extraordinary comeback against Lyon in the quarter-finals, with the chance to qualify for the Champions League a further incentive.

Athletic are fourth in Spain’s LaLiga, quite the contrast to United’s lowly position of 14th in the Premier League table. Here’s everything you need to know.

Much like a lot of Athletic Bilbao right now, Nico Williams isn’t playing anything down. Their season is obviously building up to one huge game, and they are hoping it isn’t just a Europa League semi-final with a historic club like Manchester United.

“The dream is to lift the cup in San Mames,” Williams says, articulating the mood of a nation. Athletic’s home stadium will host the Europa League final, as the fan-owned team enjoys one of their best periods for 40 years. “We have a chance to make history in this club,” Williams added.

The sense of Bilbao almost serving as a European capital of football for the next few weeks is only furthered by the fact Athletic first take on United in a semi-final of immense stakes.

Nico Williams helped deny England continental glory last summer and is now looking to prove the scourge of Manchester United as the Athletic Bilbao star looks to fulfil his dream of lifting the Europa League on home turf.

“Lifting the trophy in San Mames – every kid dreams of that,” Athletic’s outstanding player said as Athletic seek to reach their first European final since 2012.

“Everyone dreams of playing European championships. Lifting a trophy with Athletic is something unique and now is a very good opportunity to write history. Hopefully we can get there but the dream is never ending.”

Amad Diallo and Matthijs de Ligt travelled to Spain for Manchester United’s crunch Europa League semi-final at Athletic Bilbao.

Ruben Amorim’s men are preparing for Thursday’s first leg at San Mames, where the Red Devils hope to return for the May 21 showpiece against Tottenham or Bodo/Glimt.

United have been boosted ahead of the season-defining semi-final by the return of Diallo and De Ligt.

The former has been laid low since February after sustaining ankle ligament damage that had made him touch and go to play again this season.

De Ligt has been out for a month with an issue of his own, missing United’s last six matches in all competitions.

“To start, no (they are not ready),” Amorim said. “But they can be in the squad for the game.”

Manchester United are the only team in Europe to be unbeaten in a European competition this season but Athletic Bilbao are their toughest challenge yet.

“They are really strong as a team, really intense, really aggressive – even for a Spanish team they are aggressive in every duel,” Ruben Amorim said.

“They have great players one v one. Nico Williams is a special player. They are the best defence in Spain in the league.

“We are not scoring too many goals, so it’s going to be a tough match for us.”

Manchester United midfielder Manuel Ugarte shared the belief of manager Ruben Amorim, saying: “As the head coach said, this is not going to save the season.

“But the history of United is written with titles, so that’s why we’re focused very much on tomorrow and to be able to play in the Champions League next season, so it’s very important and altogether we’re going to try and win.”

Ruben Amorim: “Nothing is going to save our season. Of course people are going to look in a different way for this season, especially for the coach. Again, it’s something more in the core of our club. We need to change a lot of things and we need to be consistent.

“Europa League is not change anything in our problems – it’s going to give us Champions League next year, more money to spend – but the problems are still there. We have to change the minds of our fans with consistency, good decisions, good recruitment, good academy. This is what we need to change to take our club back to the top.”

Ruben Amorim has declared that even Europa League glory will not solve Manchester United’s problems as he stressed that there will still be major issues at Old Trafford even if they are back in the Champions League.

United face Athletic Bilbao in the first leg of their semi-final on Thursday, with a potential final against either Tottenham or Bodo/Glimt and the chance to play in the premier European competition again next season, even though they are only 14th in the Premier League.

It could provide a £100m boost to their revenue and transform Amorim’s transfer budget but the United head coach is adamant that the problems at Old Trafford are deep-rooted.