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.
