Tottenham ended their 17-year wait for a trophy as they held on for a 1-0 win over Manchester United in the Europa League final.
On a night of vindication for Ange Postecoglou and jubilation for the Spurs fans celebrating a first European trophy since 1984, Brennan Johnson’s goal just before half-time proved the decisive moment of a scrappy encounter in Bilbao.
United offered very little in attack until Micky van de Ven pulled off a sensational goalline clearance to deny Rasmus Hojlund in the second-half, while Alejandro Garnacho forced Guglielmo Vicario into a sharp save.
The final became increasingly ill-tempered in the closing stages, particularly between Harry Maguire and Cristian Romero, but it was the Spurs camp who broke into wild celebrations at the full-time whistle, after Vicario kept out Luke Shaw’s header in the seventh minute of added-time.
The two sides had up to this point endured similarly miserable seasons, United sitting only a place above Spurs in the Premier League table in 16th, but these campaigns will now be remembered in very different fashion.
Spurs will be back in the Champions League next term after what must be viewed as the most successful season in the club’s recent history, delivering on Postecoglou’s declaration back in September that he always wins a trophy in his second season.
For United and Amorim, this was a fourth defeat to Spurs this season. Any planned squad rebuild has become significantly more difficult without the allure and financial boost of European football, and the focus will instead be on the club’s worst-ever Premier League finish.
FIRST BLOOD SPURS! ⚽️
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It's scrappy but they won't care! Brennan Johnson claims it as he takes full advantage of carnage in the box to put Spurs ahead in the Europa League Final 🤩
📺 @tntsports & @discoveryplusUK pic.twitter.com/l5Jg9BgYgr
The main pre-match news came from the Spurs team sheet, which showed captain Heung-min Son on the bench. In the absence of the likes of James Maddison and Dejan Kulusevski, Postecoglou opted for the “running power” of a midfield three of Yves Bissouma, Rodrigo Bentancur and Pape Matar Sarr.
As for United, Leny Yoro came straight back into the starting lineup after injury, while Mason Mount got the nod over Alejandro Garnacho on the left wing.
It was a frantic start to the match, both sides giving the impression that a mistake was not far away. The quality was low but there was a compelling nature to the pace of proceedings, and the manner in which neither defence looked comfortable defending crosses.
Amad Diallo was the chief threat for United and had the beating of Destiny Udogie, flashing one dangerous ball right across the face of goal.
Pedro Porro whipped in a succession of dangerous crosses and Brennan Johnson got the byline to force Andre Onana into action, but a first-half characterised by mistakes and nerves offered very few chances.
It was perhaps no surprise, then, when the opening goal came in fittingly scrappy fashion. Sarr swung in a good cross from the left, the ball bobbled off Johnson and onto Shaw’s arm, and that touch proved enough to beat the scrambling Onana.
The quality levels did not rise after the break, Spurs preventing any real flow to the match with a regular supply of niggly fouls.
Son was introduced with 25 minutes remaining, after Richarlison went down and signalled he needed to come off, and his first involvement was to watch Van de Ven produce a stunning piece of defending.
Vicario fumbled a free-kick, it dropped for Hojlund and his header appeared destined to find the back of the net, only for Van de Ven to launch himself into the air and acrobatically hook it off the line on the volley.
Garnacho was introduced shortly afterwards and he almost had an immediate impact, driving into the box and firing an effort towards the far corner, but Vicario got down to parry it away.
Spurs dropped deeper and deeper, content to smash the ball up the pitch at every opportunity, and United were simply not good enough to break them down. Shaw came as close as anyone to forcing extra-time in the final seconds, but the save from his header ended the hopes of those in red.
This was Tottenham’s night. Postecoglou, ultimately, was proved right.
