‘Winger’ Harry Maguire the hero as Manchester United beat Athletic Club 3-0 in Europa League semifinal 1st leg

“I said it straight away: what a winger,” he said. “I don’t think even he thought he had that in his locker. No one was expecting that, I don’t think even the opposition was expecting that.”

Maguire, who had scored the dramatic winner in United’s quarter-final second leg against Lyon, took the moment in stride.

“It was nice to do a bit of dribbling out there and put in a great cross,” he smiled. “We had a lot of bodies in the box so they must have trusted me to get that cross in.”

Manchester United coach Ruben Amorim acknowledged the resilience of Maguire, who has endured a long spell under scrutiny at Old Trafford.

“Sometimes there are moments in our life, and Harry had difficult moments and everything he did was, I don’t want to say wrong, but it is that word, wrong,” Amorim told TNT Sports. “Now everything he does is good for the team, so he has to enjoy it.”

Amorim even quipped that the centre-back is turning into a serious option out wide: “A good winger,” he joked.

Fernandes added a brace of his own, converting a penalty after a VAR review saw Dani Vivian dismissed for a foul on Rasmus Hojlund, and then slotting home just before the break to give United a healthy cushion going into next week’s return leg.

Amorim, though, remained cautiously optimistic.

“The result is really good, but we have to understand the result also. With a little bit of luck, we managed to keep us in the game,” he said. “This is not done, they can do the same thing at Old Trafford because they are really strong.”