Come Tuesday morning at Carrington, the expectation is that Leny Yoro and Matthijs de Ligt will be absent when the Manchester United players stroll out onto the training pitch.
Ruben Amorim is remaining coy on their potential availability but both are long shots. Yoro was crestfallen as he limped down the touchline against West Ham United last Sunday. De Ligt has played once since April 1 and did not finish the first half at Brentford.
Diogo Dalot was spotted at Carrington on Wednesday, walking back to the first team's temporary quarters after an individual session with physio Jordan Reece. While his teammates were training, a topless Dalot sat down and recuperated in the sunshine just outside the hub.
He then hot-footed it over to Old Trafford to speak in a ramshackle mixed zone. Dalot posed for his Europa League final portrait in one of the stadium's hospitality suites. The hunch is that he will be in Bilbao and his name on the teamsheet, filed among the substitutes.
Luke Shaw was a predictable removal at Chelsea on Friday night. Having gone 14 months without starting for United, he seems assured of starting the Europa League final.
Seeing out the contest in Bilbao could be beyond Shaw. That is where Dalot could come in. Shaw off, Dalot on and Noussair Mazraoui to centre back.
Mazraoui will start against Tottenham Hotspur. Amorim has picked him at centre back and right wing in the past two games, weighing up where exactly to put Mazraoui. United's starting XI at Chelsea could feasibly be the same side that lines up for the unmemorable Europa League anthem.
Amorim is pleased with United's preparations, if not their domestic results. "Yes, first of all because of the feeling, I didn’t like the feeling of the last game.
"Then we have five days to prepare for the game, it’s two days to fully recover, we can see video, prepare some things one day to compete. If I put some players out, it was like ten days without a game, I don’t like that.
"I think the best way to prepare for a final when you have time to fully recover and prepare for the next game is just to compete. And we are Manchester United so we need to compete in every game."
Amorim consoles Amad after the Chelsea defeat
The five-day gaps afford United ample recovery time and rhythm. Enzo Maresca was struck by United's man-to-man aggression against Chelsea and they were competitive for at least an hour. Yet United still ended the evening with one attempt on target.
Amorim has agonised over a pragmatic or proactive approach ever since his first training session with the players on November 18. Alejandro Garnacho started in his 14th successive match last week but the return of Amad and prominence of Mason Mount could reduce him to a bench berth.
Tottenham are deprived of two of their most creative talents in James Maddison and Dejan Kulusevski. There has been chatter that Ange Postecoglou could start a conservative trio of midfielders in Pape Sarr, Yves Bissouma and Rodrigo Bentancur, which possibly influenced the redeployment of Bruno Fernandes as a central midfielder at Stamford Bridge.
Fernandes was sent off against Tottenham in September
Casemiro and Fernandes were paired together at Tottenham in February with Manuel Ugarte out injured. That was Casemiro's first start in 48 days and back when his selection was dreaded by United supporters. He has gone from unplayable to undroppable in Europe.
Amorim has spoken before of having Amad "closer to goal" and it is probable he will remain as one of the two number 10s. Mazraoui is more comfortable in a back three as it is somewhat similar to right back yet is poised to continue on the right wing, possibly to adjust the balance if Fernandes is in midfield.
That throws up the peculiar pick of the great survivor, Victor Lindelof. Lindelof's United career effectively ends in a week but he is set to be one of three survivors from United's starting XI in the 2021 Europa League final. Shaw and Fernandes are the others.
One could measure the severity of United's decline by the possible presence of Lindelof and Harry Maguire in a 2025 final XI. Those two defenders last signed contracts with United in August and September of 2019. Maguire has earned his extension. Lindelof hasn't.
No wonder eyes are peeled for Yoro and De Ligt on Tuesday.