Manchester United have “one foot in the final,” says Harry Maguire – “but it’s still not done!” | OneFootball

Harry Maguire insisted that Manchester United cannot get complacent about their progression to the UEFA Europa League final, despite a convincing 0-3 win over a ten-men Athletic Club in the first leg of their semi-final on Thursday.

The defender teed up the Red Devils‘ opener with a cross from the right flank, following a tidy period of dribbling that’s seen him earn a handful of nicknames on social media.

“I’m sure there’s a few nicknames out there for me,” he joked post-match, speaking pitchside to TNT Sports.

“I found myself obviously attacking the back post,” he explained, “and I think Garna [Alejandro Garnacho] passed me the ball. It was nice to do a bit of dribbling out there and put in a great cross. We had a lot of bodies in the box so I think they must have trusted me to get that cross in!”

Manchester United had been expected to struggle at San Mamés against a Zurigorri side that has the best defence in LaLiga, and the 32-year-old accepted that “the first 20 minutes were difficult.”

“The crowd were super loud, the intensity was high and they came after us. We made a few errors, we looked a little bit nervous at times in that first 20 minutes. But I thought the lads grew into the game really well, we weathered the storm and we knew we’d get our chances.”

“We were really clinical in that first half so it’s really pleasing to go to Old Trafford… The tie isn’t done, we’ll be focused and we’ll be ready at Old Trafford next Thursday for the second leg and I’m sure Old Trafford will be like this place,” he expressed.

But Maguire made clear that while a three-goal win is “a great start” that has given Manchester United “one foot in the final”, their progression to the final – which will also be staged at San Mamés – “is still not done”.

“All the pressure will be on us now, everyone will expect us to go through to the final so next Thursday we need to make sure we prepare well, prepare like we did for this game and if we do, we’ll give ourselves a great opportunity to reach the final.”