Man United must make two changes for Europa League final - and one could be a game-changer

As evidence of just how unexpectedly smoothly things went for Manchester United in Bilbao, witness the sight of Matthijs de Ligt and Amad coming off the bench to begin their return to match fitness after a spell on the sidelines.

De Ligt got as routine a 25 minutes in the centre of defence as it's possible to imagine in a Europa League semi-final, easing his way back in after a month out, while Amad played the final six minutes plus stoppages after returning from almost three months out with an ankle problem.

Both were spotted in full training for the first time at Carrington on Wednesday and were included on the bench at San Mames, but Ruben Amorim could never have imagined the first leg of this tie would go so well that he could get minutes into both. With more than one foot now in the final on May 21, Amorim will be hoping to have both available to start back in Bilbao.

That shouldn't be an issue for De Ligt. There are places up for grabs in defence, and he would start ahead of Victor Lindelof from the team that began on Thursday. The 25-year-old has to have a chance of starting at Brentford on Sunday and aiming for an hour at the Gtech Community Stadium, which might be enough to see him start against Athletic at Old Trafford on Thursday.

There will be a little more caution with Amad, whose absence from training has been longer. He was initially ruled out for the season after suffering an ankle ligament injury in training, but that was soon downgraded, and he should now have an excellent chance of starting United's biggest game of the season.

The question might be where he starts. Having begun life under Amorim as a wing-back, Amad was moved into a No. 10 role and thrived there from mid-December, with the head coach