Manchester United legend Paul Scholes has slammed one of Ruben Amorim’s star players for always making the wrong decision in one crucial area of the pitch during their Europa League semi-final second leg against Athletic Bilbao. The Red Devils went into their tie at Old Trafford with a 3-0 lead from the reverse fixture in the Basque Country, but found themselves going behind on the night thanks to Mikel Jareguizar’s effort from distance.
A cool second-half finish from substitute Mason Mount levelled things at the Theatre of Dreams before Casemiro and Rasmus Hojlund and Mount’s second ensured United’s safe passage through to the final, where they will meet fellow Premier League club Tottenham. However, things could’ve been far more comfortable if not for one man, who Scholes didn’t hold back on with his assessment.
Speaking on TNT Sports’ half-time coverage of the second leg, Scholes was full of criticism for youngster Alejandro Garnacho, who missed a couple of big opportunities in the opening 45 minutes of proceedings. Despite making several good runs in behind, the Argentine’s end product was lacking, wasting two one-on-ones including one scenario where he opted to try and dink the Bilbao goalkeeper and dinked his shot wide of the target.
Speaking on Garnacho, Scholes claimed that the winger did not have the guile to pull off such a deft finish and insinuated that his decision-making in the final third was becoming problematic.
“I’ve never seen Garnacho score a goal like this. He’s not a player with that sort of guile for me. The pace he’s got there, he’s just got to go round the goalkeeper. There’s an acre of space there to the right-hand side of him, the ‘keeper will never get anywhere near him, just hit it into an empty net.
“I’ve never seen this type of finish from him. We said before the game, he’s brilliant running through, he gets in great positions. But sometimes, or a lot of the time, he makes the wrong decision. I think he’s done that there.”
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