On Friday, May 9, Manchester United advanced to the UEFA Europa League final in emphatic fashion, dispatching Athletic Club 4-1 in the second leg at Old Trafford to seal a 7-1 aggregate victory.
But while most of the night was filled with celebration, club legend Paul Scholes took aim at one player in particular—Alejandro Garnacho.
The 19-year-old Argentine winger, who started the game and played 63 minutes, squandered a golden opportunity late in the first half with the Red Devils trailing 1-0. Garnacho found himself clean through on goal in the 43rd minute but attempted an audacious chip over the Athletic Club goalkeeper that drifted wide of the post.
Scholes, speaking as a pundit on TNT Sports, didn’t mince words. “I have never seen Garnacho score a goal like this, he is not the player with that kind of guile,” he told Manchester World. “With the pace he has got, he should just go around the keeper. We said before the game he gets in brilliant positions, he is great at running through but a lot of the time he makes the wrong decision.”
Despite the missed chance, Garnacho’s overall stats were solid—he completed 18 of 20 passes, made one key pass, attempted three dribbles (completing one), and won two of four ground duels, according to Sofascore.
The first leg, played on Thursday, May 1, had seen Manchester United dismantle a 10-man Athletic Club 3-0 in Spain, with Bruno Fernandes scoring twice and Casemiro adding another following Dani Vivian’s 35th-minute red card.
In the second leg, Mikel Jauregizar gave the visitors brief hope with a goal in the 31st minute. But that lead lasted just over 40 minutes, as Mason Mount equalised in the 72nd with a clinical finish. Casemiro then struck in the 79th, Rasmus Højlund added another in the 85th, and Mount capped off the rout in stoppage time with his second of the night (90+1′).
Erik ten Hag’s side will now face Tottenham Hotspur in the final after Spurs cruised past Bodo/Glimt 5-1 on aggregate in the other semi-final.
