The Red Devils took a huge step towards the Europa League final with an impressive 3-0 away victory against the 10-man La Liga side on Thursday (01.05.25) and the coach described it as the highlight of his time in charge at Old Trafford so far.

Asked if it was the best performance of his reign, Amorim replied: "No, I think it is the best result because nobody expected this result."

United's Europa League run has been in stark contrast to their dire Premier League campaign but Amorim stressed that the job is far from done as his team bids to seal a return to Bilbao for the showpiece later this month.

The Portuguese manager said: "The players have to think about the second leg, and more about the first 20 minutes than the rest of the game.

"The game is going to be really tough. There is no away goals so anything can change: that is my message to the players."

He continued: "You saw two games: the first 25 minutes, before the goal and then after the sending off the game changed. The most important thing is that after that the opponent didn’t get many shots. In the first 30 minutes they had some chances to score and didn’t."

Amorim reserved praise for defender Harry Maguire and forward Rasmus Hojlund as both had an instrumental role in United's victory.

He said: "It is a good lesson for all the players that sometimes you have some moments that you think I will never recover from this or that.

"It is not just Harry; the history of this game can tell you that. It looks like you are struggling a lot and then everything change. We have to understand some players have moments in their life that everything can change.

"I think this was the best game that [Rasmus Hojlund] had with me as a coach. He helped the team a lot, he secured the ball and then he made the runs. It is a good moment for him but like Harry he needs to understand everything can change."