Tag:

Europa League

2025 UEFA Europa League Final: Ange Postecoglou’s Tottenham witnessed Europa Cup glory in Bilbao thanks to Brennan Johnson’s 1st half strike over Manchester United by 1-0

by Sports Benches May 21, 2025

Two PL sides from either side of England came over to play somewhere at the San Mames Stadium in Bilbao earlier this morning/tonight over in Spain as it may not be some regular special PL match arrangement outside the UK since both of them are currently in between 16th & 17th.

Fortunately enough, all three sides below them fared way poorly that was most certainly bound for relegation back to the 2nd tier Championship level.

However, it was still a Europa Cup Final nonetheless where both items were still up for grabs that can only belong to the winning team and not the runners-up:

Being able to lift that prestigious trophy like no other.
Securing a golden ticket Champions League group stage qualification berth for the 2025/26 season.

That winning team goes to Tottenham Hotspur over Manchester United thanks to Wales International Brennan Johnson’s one and only strike only a few mins before half-time and nothing changed since then with the sharp awareness being built by the Spurs stronghold defensive backline.

Frustrating for Man Utd who had ball to their advantage but just unable to make the most out of their chances into goals and that’s what really hurt them the most.

With no European Football to play for from the Red Devils at least for the next term, there will be a lot of chopping and changing with their transfer renovation hit list. Sure, they’ve got a good coach who has established himself with Sporting in Portugal but some of the players including tonight’s selection in particular were also not up to it – even leaving out Casemiro by surprise when Man Utd opted to start Mason Mount didn’t go so well unfortunately as just going to leave that there.

Now with Spurs’ European triumph, Ange Postecoglou may not have been the best at PL level in his second year. But he does bring that certain kind of football his players want to play like Ange always did with the Socceroos and Celtic, etc.

For him to win a European trophy for the first time as a head coach coming from Australia is just incredible that will inspire both Spurs fans as well as Australian Football in general for a long time.

Out of the last few Europa Cup Finals, there were many first-time winners mainly from a coaching standpoint. But now, what is Tottenham going to do with Ange?

Give him at least another season, another term of adventure and see where he can go when it comes to the Super Cup Final against either one of PSG or Inter Milan as well as being part of the CL again after he made a huge difference with Celtic.

If that doesn’t work out at some point, it would be quite a journey.

In the meantime, Tottenham def. Man Utd 1-0 with the Conference League Final to come between Chelsea v Real Betis next week. Then the 10-day UEFA annual Finals festival ends with the all-important CL Final next weekend where Inter Milan is now back in the running once more but this time they will take on PSG in Munich.

May 21, 2025 0 comment

A few quickfire sports items this week Thursday, 7th May 2025: Moana and Hurricanes stay on course Top 6 while Waratahs struggle again, great weekend from NSW in Super Netball, NRL finally has a WA team & more Soccer with the English

by Sports Benches May 7, 2025

Here’s some quickfire sports items this week:

1️⃣ Moana Pasifika and Hurricanes take wins that kept their Top 6 alive with Reds unlucky to Drua and Waratahs lose again away where they were so out of depth v Brumbies after half-time – they better pull those strings tomorrow v the Reds again.

2️⃣ Top weekend from NSW Netball – Giants finally crush champs Adelaide Thunderbirds by one goal (64-63) while Swifts still so unbeatable v Firebirds.

3️⃣ Lots of recognised NZers at the second from Grace Nweke to Kiri Wills along with Silver Ferns coach Dame Noeline Taurua & the ANZ Premiership is back this weekend.

4️⃣ NRL now officially welcomes back the Bears as a WA team. Fun fact: Reds & future Wallabies coach Les Kiss used to play there back in his day.

5️⃣ More Football in the form of soccer, Leeds won the Championship at the last minute while Arsenal won’t be in the CL Final with PSG v Inter – and now we’ll see if Tottenham along with Man Utd will be up for the Europa Cup 2nd leg semi tomorrow.

May 7, 2025 0 comment

Other Sports Football

Favourites & Unbeaten Bayer Leverkusen finally knocked down by Atalanta BC thanks to Ademola Lookman’s hat-trick with the Europa League Final victory at Aviva Stadium

by Sports Benches May 22, 2024

We thought this was Bayer Levekusen’s game to win for yet another time having been unbeaten for so long after their outstanding Bundesliga season without losing a game (a draw doesn’t count) with the title, but unfortunately their series of hit and misses allowed Ademola Lookman to caplitalise on his unbelievable hat-trick for Atalanta BC whose Italian side was just being crowned the champions of the Europa League at Aviva Stadium in Dublin, Ireland. The final score was 3-0 after 90 mins.

Gotta feel sorry for the Levekusen fans who saw these dreams turn into reality when you got former Liverpool midfielder Xabi Alonso at the helm as head coach and thought a series of changes later on with a deeper squad would turn things around like it was before. We just didn’t see this happening despite having the most possession as they failed to make the most out of their conversions at least inside the penalty box and instead had balls flying everywhere which didn’t work. There’s no way they can drop out from the Champions League to the Europa League again from now on since the competition format is gonna change going into next season as his next chance would have to wait at another time with Levekusen or another club.

And for Atalanta BC, every time they had the ball they absolutely controlled well whenever they had it to steer clear of the Levekusen defenders thanks to Teun Koopmeiners and their front three before Lookman got the job done from the left wing and voila – back-to-back goals earlier in the first-half plus a 3rd strike later in the last 45 mins from someone who hails from England, played in the Premier League and is a Nigerian International through his parents’ heritage. Hats off to him who made his team’s supporters night something special to cheer about wherever they are including his team-mates and of course, the head coach Gian Piero Gasperini who has never won a major trophy before until now with this one at age 66 – how good!!

We had first-time Europa League winning coaches in the last few editions like 46-year-old Oliver Glasner (now Crystal Palace coach) for Einchart Frankfurt back in 2022 v Rangers and also 61-year-old Jose Luis Mendilibar (now Olympiacos coach who is in the running for next week’s Conference League Final v Fiorentina) last year for Sevilla v AS Roma & sure we’ll see many more to come after Gasperini. Both winners have already qualified for the Champions League next season with Levekusen via their championship league position in the Bundesliga & Atalanta either way with the Europa win tonight (now guaranteed) and the extra league position for the Serie A in 5th (which will then hand over the extra winning Europa to Champions League slot to the 6th-placed side) with two games to spare against Torino and Fiorentina. So that’s it from Aviva Stadium on what has been a cracking game where the top ranked team was crushed by the Italian Atalanta side as can’t wait for the Conference League Final (next Thursday morning) and Champions League Final (next Sunday morning on June 2) throughout next week.

May 22, 2024 0 comment

Football

Penalty heartbreak for Rangers

by Admin May 19, 2022

By Shantanu Gupta

Rangers were beaten by Eintracht Frankfurt in the final of the Europa League in Seville on Wednesday night.

42,500 fans in the stadium and more than 100,000 fans in the city who could not get tickets for the game but were watching the match in fan parks dotted across the city, made for a raucous atmosphere from the first whistle to the last.

The Germans were the better team in the first half, and in left wing back Filip Kostić they had the most dangerous player on the pitch with his ability to get up and down the touchline and deliver teasing crosses into the box.

It was Eintracht who came closer to breaking the deadlock when Allan McGregor was forced to make an excellent save from Ansgar Knauff. Rangers had their moments but nothing seriously to trouble Kevin Trapp in the Frankfurt goal.

And it was also the Bundesliga side that started the second half much brighter, emerging with an intensity that had the Scottish team on the ropes.

But then, against the run of play, Rangers took the lead, although Frankfurt were very much the masters of their own downfall. Midfielder Djibril Sow and defender Tuta failed to deal with a bouncing ball, Tuta fell over, allowing Joe Aribo to stride forward and calmly slot the ball past Trapp.

The lead lasted 12 minutes, during which time Rangers twice survived penalty shouts against them. VAR ruled that there was not sufficient evidence to overturn the referee’s initial decision not to award a spot-kick.

When the equaliser did come, it was no surprise that the source of the goal was Kostić. He burst down the left and delivered a low cross to the near post.

Both the Rangers centre-halves were ball watching and failed to spot the run of Rafael Borré who stole in between them, and beat McGregor from close range.

Both teams pressed for a second goal, but it would not come and the match went to extra time. With players tiring in the heat – it had been 30 degrees at kick-off and not appreciably cooler later, – mistakes began to creep in on both sides, but still the game remained tied.

Still, with penalties looming, Rangers had the chance to snatch the win. Substitute Kemar Roofe, who had just come on as a substitute, got to the bye-line and pulled the ball back for Ryan Kent to side-foot the ball from close range.

Fortunately for the Germans, Trapp was able to move his feet in time, stuck out a right leg, and managed to divert the shot away from goal.

That meant that, for the second time in a matter of days, penalties were needed to decide a major final. The three spot kicks from each side were so accurately placed that neither keeper stood a chance.

However, Welsh international Aaron Ramsey, who had been introduced very late on specifically to take a spot kick, placed his effort down the middle and Trapp was able to keep it out. It was left to Borré to deliver the coup de grace, sending the Germans into raptures of delight, whilst the Rangers players slumped to the turf in dejection.

They need to pick themselves up to the Scottish Cup Final against Hearts in nine days’ time, whilst Eintracht Frankfurt can look forward to playing in the Champions League next season.

May 19, 2022 0 comment