BILBAO, Spain — Tottenham Hotspur have won their first trophy since 2008 after beating Manchester United 1-0 in the UEFA Europa League final on a tight and tense night in Bilbao.
The game was decided by a scruffy goal from Brennan Johnson just before halftime, but Spurs and under-fire manager Ange Postecoglou won’t care.
The scrappy nature of the goal — initially credited as a Luke Shaw own goal after it was bundled in at the near post — was fitting of a game that was low on quality from the first minute to the last.
It looked every inch a fixture as teams sat in 16th and 17th place, respectively, in the Premier League table.
United struggled to make clear-cut chances as they attempted to drag themselves back into the game, although Micky van de Ven had to produce an acrobatic goal-line clearance to keep out a Rasmus Højlund header, and Shaw’s stoppage-time chance was expertly saved by Guglielmo Vicario.
For Tottenham, it’s a first trophy in 17 years and UEFA Champions League football next season. For United, it’s no European football for the first time since 2013-14 and an uncertain future under boss Ruben Amorim. — Rob Dawson
Ange keeps his promise — but will he keep his job?
The Australian manager has faced ridicule at times this season, ever since confidently stating he always wins things in his second season at a club.
With Celtic in Scotland, he won the domestic treble in his second year. At Yokohama F. Marinos in Japan, he delivered their first J1 League title in 15 years. With Australia, he won the 2015 AFC Asian Cup. At Brisbane Roar, he won their first-ever domestic double.
And yet, Tottenham’s inability to win silverware was so deeply ingrained that it seemed like a different test altogether to replicate that success in north London, especially as their domestic campaign lurched from one defeat to another — 21 in all.
But he kept his word and did so in a style almost the antithesis of the attacking “Angeball” style that won him so many admirers in his first year at the club. Spurs have been more pragmatic in the Europa League knockout stages, but the second half was unlike anything we had seen from them, defending deep for long periods as they conceded territory and possession. It worked.
The question now is whether this success is enough to convince a hierarchy wavering on keeping him in post that they should actually persevere through the summer. — James Olley
For United, this was a miserable end to a miserable season
Winning the Europa League would have offered some kind of salvation. A trophy in the cabinet and a night to remember in Bilbao. Instead, all that is left is to assess the wreckage of a disastrous campaign.
The effects could be far-reaching. Club bosses have made no secret of the need to boost their financial position with Champions League cash. Not only will there be no Champions League next season, but there will be no European football at all. We’ll only know in time how that hampers Amorim’s ability to mold his squad during the summer transfer window.
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Burley: The standard of the Europa League final was shocking
The ‘ESPN FC’ crew put down the quality of the Europa League final between Tottenham and Man United.
You could have made a case that by lifting the Europa League, this season was some kind of success (as long as you don’t look at the Premier League table).
Without that boost, there is no doubt that United are at their lowest point since relegation to the second tier of English football in 1974. Beating Spurs would have led to cautious optimism about the future. After a defeat in their most important game for a decade, it looks like a long way back to the top. — Dawson
Redemption story for Spurs hero Johnson
Johnson’s 42nd-minute winner was so scrappy that it was initially awarded to him, then to Shaw as an own goal, and then back to the Tottenham winner.
But he is now forever immortalized in Spurs history, the first player to score in a final since Jonathan Woodgate in 2008. His picture will adorn the walls Postecoglou spoke about at Tottenham’s training ground and the stadium, alongside legendary manager Bill Nicholson and the 1984 UEFA Cup-winning team.
It is a dramatic transformation for the 23-year-old, who deactivated his Instagram account after receiving abuse for his performance in September’s north London derby defeat to Arsenal.
When scoring against Coventry City a few days later — the winning goal in the 90th minute of a Carabao Cup tie — he barely celebrated. How times change. Postecoglou has often said he would “love to be a right-winger in my team” given their tactical setup, but nobody will have enjoyed it more than Johnson did in Bilbao. — Olley
Time has run out for Højlund
It might turn out to be a sliding doors moment for the Danish striker.
When Vicario made a mess of a United free kick into the box, Højlund’s looping header looked like it was going in. That was until Van de Ven made an unbelievable clearance from underneath his own crossbar.
It’s the type of moment that could have — had it gone in — kick-started Højlund’s career. Perhaps something to build on ahead of next season. Instead, it was cleared and he was substituted moments later, with another largely ineffective performance. This has been a particularly difficult campaign for Højlund at Old Trafford, and he might not get another.
United are keen to land a striker in the summer window, and that might mean Højlund will have to move on. No one will want to pay the near £70 million United spent to bring him in from Atalanta in 2023, and so he might be forced to leave on loan.
It might be a good thing. Find a club away from the United spotlight where he can score a few goals and rebuild his confidence. Still only 22 years old, it’s too early to write him off, but he looks like a player in desperate need of a change of scenery. –– Dawson
Pressure mounting on Amorim
Speaking at his pre-match news conference Tuesday, Amorim was able to see the funny side when asked about his future.
He won’t be laughing now. The Portuguese coach was always clear that winning the Europa League would only paper over the cracks. Without it, there is no hiding just how bad the start of his reign has been. Six wins in the Premier League since his appointment in mid-November is shocking.
In any other situation, it’s form that gets you the sack. Sources have told ESPN that United were always likely to keep Amorim, regardless of the result in the final. That is nothing to suggest they won’t follow through with that, but the 40-year-old will now be under severe pressure from the moment next season kicks off.
Amorim is almost in the same situation in which Erik ten Hag found himself a year ago. In the Dutchman’s case, the improvement never came, and he lost his job a couple of months into the new campaign. There needs to be a vast improvement under Amorim from the first game in August, otherwise he could find himself in real trouble during the October or November international breaks. — Dawson
Son finally gets his glory moment as Spurs eye UCL
This probably wouldn’t have been the script he would have written himself, but Son Heung-Min won’t care.
Few players embodied the frustration of Spurs’ long trophy drought more than the 32-year-old, who has given his heart and soul to the club for a decade without a single honor to his name. Not anymore.
Son told reporters on the eve of the game he was physically ready to play, but Postecoglou made the bold call to leave him on the bench, and in his 23 minutes on the field as a substitute, he touched the ball 13 times. He completed two of his six passes. But none of that matters.
Son danced jubilantly at full time with the South Korean flag draped over his shoulders, the same shoulders that have carried the hopes of a nation for so many years without success. Many South Koreans are Tottenham fans just because of him. More might follow now Spurs are back in the Champions League, the prize on offer alongside their first trophy since 2008.
The financial need wasn’t as great as United’s, but the estimated £100m boost in revenue will help strengthen a squad whose lack of strength in depth has been badly exposed this season. — Olley
