Basques guarantee big night in Manchester

Thursday night football may be second-best but there is a lot to anticipate from the tie between Manchester United and Athletic Bilbao.

Nearly 7,000 Basque fans are on their way to Old Trafford, buoyed by Sunday’s win in the derby against Real Sociedad. Their team trail 30 points behind Real Madrid in La Liga, yet they are well-placed to challenge for a Champions League place and have a cup final to look forward to against Barcelona.

Athletic are on the up and this is an opportunity for one of Spain’s historic clubs to test themselves against top foreign opposition again. There is history to it as well. These two clubs have met just once before, when United eventually went through 6-5 on aggregate in one of those European Cup epics, just 12 months before the Munich air crash.