Sports

Athletic Club Bilbao will look not to get overconfident when they face Manchester United in the San Mames stadium on Thursday for the second leg of the last 16 round of the Europa League. The Basques outclassed the English champions in a 3-2 away win and have one-goal advantage over Manchester United. However, they had more than that the previous time they met and the Lions were knocked out of the UEFA competition.

The clubs' only previous meeting was in what was both sides' third competitive two-legged tie in UEFA competition. In the quarter-finals of the second European Champion Clubs' Cup, Ferdinand Daucík's Athletic beat Sir Matt Busby's United 5-3 in Bilbao, but lost the return fixture 3-0 at Maine Road, usually the home of Manchester City FC, where United were playing due to Second World War bomb damage to Old Trafford.

The Lions are in confident mood after their mesmerizing performance last week in Old Traford. However, so are Manchester United, after seizing the lead in the Premier League for the first time in five months after beating West Bromwich Albion 2-0 on the same day neighbour Manchester City slumped to a surprise 1-0 loss at Swansea.

Last Thursday, the Red Devils opened the scoring thanks to Wayne Rooney's 22nd-minute goal but then, Athletic Clu¡s attacking master class ripped Manchester United. Fernando Llorente equalized just before halftime before Oscar de Marcos and Iker Muniain scored in the final 18 minutes.

Rooney grabbed his second from the penalty spot in stoppage time, which could prove to be an important second goal for United, and one reason more for Athletic Club not to get overconfident.