Thursday was a national holiday across Spain.
The official calendars may have said one thing, but the true subject of the celebrations in Bilbao was football, and football only. The cafe owners normally serving the dark-suited businessmen on the banks of the Nervion instead welcomed full families, unfailingly decked in the red and white of Athletic.
Among them soon, though, stirring perhaps a little groggily from the taxing activities of the night before, was the red, sometimes white, and sometimes blue, of Manchester United. Visitors from afar, welcomed to Bilbao by a local population with a firm set of beliefs in how the game should be played and how the traditions to which clubs should stick.
Youth and attacking football. Sound familiar?
Kids played in the central area of Plaza Nueva square. Most had Athletic shirts, but the back of one read ‘Maguire, 5’. On the edges of the square, beneath umbrellas, United and Athletic fans ate and drank happily, sometimes in unison, sometimes just side-by-side.
Some traded momentoes, but mainly memories, many about the the last matches between the two sides, when Athletic taught United a lesson in this same competition, both at Old Trafford and here, though at the old San Mames. For a select few of a certain vintage, it was about 1956/57 instead, when Busby’s Babes awed here, but came away beaten 5-3, only to turn the tie around remarkably back home, 3-0.
Many predicted that's exactly what United would have to do again: turn the tie around back home. Because Athletic’s supporters were confident. They knew their team: intense, fast, strong, good at home.
They knew their support operates with a similar intensity. And that was the case. Pre-match, this was one of the great displays of footballing support. Everyone was in red and white. Everyone waved something: scarf, flag, shirt, hat — the beret is worn fairly regularly here — or just a hand. Everyone had taken their spot well before kick-off, and the noise swelled just as it can at Old Trafford when our Theatre of Dreams is at its very best for nights like this.
It was clear. Athletic’s fans had the dream scenario: a huge European semi-final on a national holiday, a place in the final at their home ground awaiting them. United had to spoil the party.
By half-time, Thursday was still a national holiday across Spain. But across Manchester, too — or at least the red side — for United led by three goals.
How? Well, to answer that would require time to think, and that was at a premium inside the Estadio San Mames by the break.
On the half-hour mark, Athletic felt on the brink of a lead. They had tested Andre Onana, forced a last-ditch intervention from Casemiro, a block from Victor Lindelof and had put a chance over the crossbar. United’s contribution to the game was not nil.
Alejandro Garnacho had made the net ripple early on, but was fractionally offside. We had offered a threat from a set piece or two. And then… well, you’ll have seen the goal. The heroes of that chaos back at Old Trafford combined again, but the order of this goal?
Well, in the fashion of the modern art shown in Bilbao’s famous Guggenheim museum, it subverted your expectations. That was all of this night. A Guggenheim-esque expectation-twister.
Harry Maguire, so often seen for his blockiness — the traditional centre-back build — now showing the exact boldness required on European nights to take on his man, and to beat him. Manuel Ugarte headed on, Casemiro headed IN.
Then the breathlessness began. For those in the away end, these few minutes were ones you never forget. Just like at Old Trafford against Lyon, a spell in a game where the emotions are excessive. Really. Excessive. You feel your head screaming: “I can’t do any more!”
It’s animalistic in the most beautiful way. We love football. Because after Casemiro came Bruno, from the spot, after a lengthy wait. And then Bruno again, with a delicate chip.
The captain had been on it from the start. When his team-mates were still adapting to the game’s intensity, he was delivering deft flicks and passes which spoke to his complete mastery of the ball, and rapid reading of the game. And then two goals? This was a great European captain’s performance.
Throughout, the whistles pierced. When United had possession, when the referee had a decision to make, when Bruno waited to take his spot-kick, and when the teams went off the break, with United three goals ahead.
At half-time, the fingers of English journalists tapped relentlessly, whereas the normally vociferous cries of the Spanish commentators were a little subdued. Those of a United persuasion gave knowing nods, smiles and the occasional subtle fist-pump.
The other quote that came to mind at this point was that of Mason Mount recently when discussing United's young players and the win over Lyon. He spoke about how pleased he was that they could experience a moment like that. And that's the other key: United's next generation watched a United team take an opponent apart in a European semi-finals. It builds belief, habits and standards.
The shrill and piercing whistles resumed after the break, but United endured, defined by the attitude of the captain. Bruno spoke recently to us about his love of atmospheres such as this one. He thrives off the fury of the opposition. This was one of those nights.
‘One of those nights’. That’s the phrase.
When the lads and lasses walk back down the Warwick Road again for our next home game, against the same opposition, that’s what they’ll be saying. It was just one of those nights. One of those special, special nights. But now? There’s still work to do.
Back to Manchester for the second leg, ready to face another Athletic onslaught, ready to do it all over again. That’s football, and that’s the game of which we share a deep love, whether in the red of MUFC, or the red-and-white of Bilbao’s proud team.