For Manchester United or Tottenham, a miserable Premier League campaign is to give way to glory in the UEFA Europa League.
Despite both teams languishing in the bottom half of the domestic competition, the UEFA Champions League is now just one game away.
That is the reward on offer after the two troubled English clubs on Thursday advanced to the final of Europe’s second-tier competition.
Photo: Reuters
United beat Athletic Bilbao 4-1 in the second leg of their semi-final at Old Trafford and won 7-1 on aggregate. Tottenham won 2-0 away against Bodo/Glimt to seal a 5-1 aggregate victory.
It sets up an all-English Europa League final for the second time in six years after Chelsea beat Arsenal to lift the trophy in 2019.
“If we don’t win the final, it means nothing for us,” United coach Ruben Amorim said. “It’s hard to describe what it’s like to be manager of this club. You want to give them [the fans] something, because we’ve been so disappointing in the Premier League.”
Photo: Reuters
United came back from 1-0 down at halftime against Bilbao, with Mason Mount coming off the bench to score twice after the break. Casemiro and Rasmus Hojlund were also on target.
Dominic Solanke and Pedro Porro struck for Tottenham against Bodo/Glimt in Norway.
The final scheduled for Bilbao, Spain, on May 21.
Photo: AFP
“It’s an unbelievable feeling,” Spurs defender Micky van de Ven said. “We’ve had a tough season, but we’re one game away from winning silverware.”
A major title, alone, would be enough to salvage what has otherwise been a season to forget for United and Spurs, but the added prize of a place in the lucrative Champions League would put the winner back among Europe’s elite next season.
That has not looked likely for either team for most of the campaign, as they have languished closer to the relegation zone than the top five.
United were 15th in the standings having lost a club record 16 games in the Premier League. They are also certain to record their worst-ever points total in the modern era, as well as their lowest finish.
For Tottenham, it is even worse — sitting one place below United after a club record-equaling 19 losses in the Premier League.
Now, one of those teams has the chance to effectively erase their woeful domestic form by winning the final, which is to be the fourth time they have faced each other this season.
Spurs won all three of the previous encounters — twice in the league and also in the English League Cup.
“We are struggling, both of us, so I don’t know what is going to happen,” Amorim said. “That is a good thing and a bad thing with this team. I never know.”
United’s two-legged victory over Bilbao defied their performances for most of the season, which saw former coach Erik ten Hag fired in October last year and his replacement, Amorim, oversee 12 losses in 24 league games.
Bilbao, fourth in La Liga, trailed 3-0 from the first leg, but mounted a fightback through Mikel Jauregizar’s curling long-range shot in the 31st minute at Old Trafford.
There were signs of nerves in United’s play as the visitors applied more pressure, but the introduction of Mount in the 62nd minute turned the game. He spun and curled a low shot past Bilbao goalkeeper Julen Agirrezabala 10 minutes after coming on.
Casemiro headed United in front in the 79th minute and Hojlund scored from close range in the 85th.
Mount got his second when he spotted Agirrezabala off his line in the first minute of stoppage-time and fired home from near the halfway line.
It is to be United’s third Europa League final in eight years, having won the competition in 2017.
United won the FA Cup last year and the League Cup in 2023 and this would be a third trophy-winning season in a row.
It would also be Amorim’s first for the club after winning two Portuguese league titles with Sporting.
He described it as “massive.”
“For me it’s the most important because it’s the next one,” he said.
Tottenham manager Ange Postecoglou said that he always delivers a trophy in his second year in charge.
That was true at his previous clubs Brisbane Roar, Yokohama F Marinos and Celtic.
However, even the most optimistic of Spurs fans must have questioned whether he could maintain that record, given the team’s struggles this season.
Now he is one game away from coming good on his statement.
Spurs led 3-1 from the first leg against a Bodo/Glimt team who became the first from Norway to reach a major European semi-final.
However, the trip to the Aspmyra Stadion in the arctic circle, with an artificial playing field, meant there was still some prospect of a comeback.
Two goals in six minutes in the second half killed off any thought of that, with Solanke scoring in the 63rd minute and Porro adding the second.
Spurs’ last trophy was the League Cup in 2008.
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