Young: Man United capable of beating Bilbao
Ashley Young believes Manchester United are more than capable of overturning a 3-2 deficit against Athletic Bilbao in the Europa League, but knows it will be extremely difficult.
United were outclassed at Old Trafford by Marcelo Bielsa’s exuberant Bilbao side in the first leg of the sides' last 16 encounter, but Young says the club can keep a clean sheet in Spain and score the two goals they require to progress to the quarter-finals.
"It is unusual that we find ourselves in this position [losing the first leg at home] but it is a very high-spirited camp," explained the England international.
"There is a great team spirit here and everyone is full of confidence, especially with the way things have gone of late and everyone is looking forward to Thursday.
"Our form in general makes us believe we can score wherever we play. Our attacking play has been fantastic and we believe we can score the two goals we need. Everybody has been chipping in with the goals of late. Whoever scores the goals, as long as we get two, that is all that matters."
The former Aston Villa winger admitted that United are facing an uphill task to reach the next stage of the competition, but added that they would go all out to win the tournament.
"Bilbao were an impressive team," he said. "We found that out last week. We had watched videos of them and seen how they played. I am sure if we are on our game 100 percent, we can go there and get the win we need.
"I am sure with the two goals we got and the different chances we created, we showed that we can score more. Our focus has not changed from the start of the season.
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"Every competition that we enter, we want to win. We are in the Europa League to win it. That is what we will be looking to do."
By Andy Ha
Gregg Davies is the Chief Sub Editor of FourFourTwo magazine, joining the team in January 2008 and spending seven years working on the website. He supports non-league behemoths Hereford and commentates on Bulls matches for Radio Hereford FC. His passions include chocolate hobnobs and attempting to shoehorn Ronnie Radford into any office conversation.