Category: UEFA Europa League

• Europa League would be club’s first silverware since 2008
• Van de Ven: Postecoglou has ‘proved all you guys wrong’

Micky van de Ven remembers being told that he would never win a trophy in his career after he moved to Tottenham. But the centre-half, who was signed by Ange Postecoglou from Wolfsburg in the summer of 2023, says the collective determination within the club to break the silverware curse will fuel them in Wednesday’s Europa League final against Manchester United in Bilbao. Spurs have won nothing since the 2008 League Cup.

“It will be a big thing, of course, because everybody knows that when you join Tottenham, you get the words through of: ‘Ah, you’re not going to win a trophy, you will be trophyless for the rest of your career,’” Van de Ven said. “All the guys that came up here were like: ‘We’re going to change something about this club.’

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Wednesday’s all-English Europa League final in Bilbao is a huge game that shows football still has a sense of humour

The best thing about football is what a silly, mercurial game it is. You can have all the money or political clout in the world. You can put in place meticulously thought-out projects. You can think and prepare and invest and plan, and football will still spit out a Europa League final between Tottenham and Manchester United. Strategise that.

Thousands will travel to Bilbao without tickets, many will end up sleeping rough, the phone network may collapse. It will be chaotic and anarchic and at its heart will be a game between two teams desperate for victory, whose presence in the final is utterly bewildering. And in that bonkersness may lie brilliance.

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• Coach clarified claim he could quit after West Ham loss
• ‘What I am saying is we must perform or they will change’

Ruben Amorim has insisted he is “very far from quitting” Manchester United, the head coach moving to clarify his suggestion after Sunday’s loss to West Ham that he could walk away.

After the 2-0 defeat at Old Trafford that left his team in 16th Amorim stated that if next season started with the same dismal form it may be time for “new persons to occupy this space”.

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• Forward has lost two previous finals with Spurs
• ‘This feels like an opportunity that may not come back’

Son Heung-min says the biggest reason he has stayed at Tottenham for so long is to succeed where others have failed and win a trophy with the club. The captain will have the chance to do so next Wednesday in the Europa League final against Manchester United, and he described himself as being driven by “desperate passion”.

Son, who is fighting to regain peak fitness after a foot injury, joined Spurs from Bayer Leverkusen in 2015. He has scored 173 goals for the club, putting him fifth on their all-time list behind Harry Kane, Jimmy Greaves, Bobby Smith and Martin Chivers. But he has been on the losing team in each of the finals he has contested with them – against Liverpool in the 2019 Champions League and Manchester City in the 2021 League Cup. Tottenham’s last trophy was the 2008 League Cup. Son is under contract until 2026, the club having triggered a one-year option on him in January.

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• Postecoglou unmoved by idea of a new ‘Ossie’s Dream’
• Spurs face Manchester United in Europa League final

Ange Postecoglou has played down the prospect of his Tottenham squad recording a cup final song before their Europa League final with Manchester United.

The record ‘Ossie’s Dream’ by Chas and Dave – in reference to the former midfielder Ossie Ardiles – is synonymous with Spurs’ history after being recorded with the squad to commemorate reaching the 1981 FA Cup final. However, Postecoglou insisted no repeat would occur with the class of ‘25, who secured a place in Bilbao with a 5-1 aggregate victory over Bodø/Glimt.

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• ‘They will push each other’ for places against Tottenham
• Manager will be careful with Mount and Maguire

Ruben Amorim expects Manchester United’s training sessions to be intense as his players compete for a place in the Europa League final against Tottenham.

United face Spurs at San Mamés in Bilbao on Wednesday week after a 7-1 aggregate victory against Athletic Bilbao. In three meetings with Spurs this season, including one in the Carabao Cup, they have been beaten three times.

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• Mount scores twice in home win over Athletic Bilbao
• 7-1 aggregate victory sets up final against Tottenham

A delighted Ruben Amorim praised “perfect” two-goal Mason Mount, as Manchester United swept past Athletic Bilbao and into the Europa League final against Tottenham, with four late strikes in 19 minutes.

Ruben Amorim’s men trailed 1-0 to Athletic Bilbao following Mikel Jauregizar’s first-half opener at Old Trafford and led 3-1 on aggregate before Mount equalised on 72 minutes of the second leg. Goals from Casemiro and Rasmus Højlund, in the 79th and 85th minutes followed before Mount scored again in added-time’s first minute.

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The Mason Mount strike that sealed Manchester United’s Europa League final berth was as sublime as Ruben Amorim’s team were slipshod until the substitute took charge.

With 72 minutes gone, Leny Yoro prodded the ball to Mount who, with the sweetest touch of his right instep, swivelled, then bent the equaliser past the helpless Julen Agirrezabala.

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Tottenham Hotspur booked their place in the Bilbao final with an assured display in the Arctic Circle

1 min: Bodo nearly gift Spurs a chance within the first ten seconds, a loose ball across the back, but Gundersen block-tackles Solanke, who was hoping to bust clear down the inside-right channel. The hosts breathe again.

Pennants are swapped, coins tossed, hands clasped … and Bodø, 3-1 down after the first leg, get the ball rolling.

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Athletic’s first-half strike put the wind up United, but four goals in the last 18 minutes put them through to the final, in which they’ll meet Tottenham

Taking a closer look at that United team, I’m not surprised it’s unchanged. They might’ve played Luke Shaw at left-centre-back and sent Yoro over to the right – that’s probably a better option than the one they’ve gone for, in Victor Lindelof – but Amorim is, as you would, easing Shaw back in slowly. If they make the final he’s still fit, having played the games in between, the manager has a decision to make.

Also going on:

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• Manchester United lead 3-0 in Europa League semi-final
• ‘Sometimes … something happens and we lose our mind’

Ruben Amorim admits Manchester United “can lose their minds” during games so is unsure how they will perform in Thursday’s Europa League semi-final second leg against Athletic Bilbao, despite holding a 3-0 lead.

United are favourites to reach this month’s final at the San Mamés after their victory there last week thanks to Casemiro’s header and two goals from Bruno Fernandes. In the previous round’s return leg at Old Trafford they allowed a 2-0 advantage over Lyon to become a 4-2 deficit before scoring three goals in the final seven minutes of extra time to secure passage to the last four. United also led Lyon 2-1 in the first leg but conceded a 95th-minute Rayan Cherki equaliser.

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• Supporter with spare ticket took the bait over offer
• Around 50,000 supporters vying for just 480 seats

A Norwegian bartered five kilos of semi-dried fish for a ticket to Thursday’s semi-final clash between Bodø/Glimt and Tottenham in the Arctic Circle, as the hosts aim to become the first Norwegian club to reach a European final.

Some 50,000 fans were vying for just 480 remaining tickets to the second leg of Bodø/Glimt’s Europa League semi-final.

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Spurs produced a (fairly) authoritative performance to earn a two-goal first-leg advantage against Bodø/Glimt

“If any Spurs fans are thinking of heading to north Norway to sample the atmosphere for the second leg (I assume tickets are long gone), I can confirm that the (12-hour) train journey north from Bergen is absolutely stunning, the highlight of an interrail trip to the arctic circle last year,” writes Stuart Jenkinson, as the referee orchestrates the pre-match coin toss. “Every other house/ apartment was sporting a Bodo/glimt flag, as was the local peak, but unfortunately no home games in the short time we were there.”

The players have joined them, and they’re on their way out! One end of the ground is displaying the Spurs club motto by means of holding up black and white plastic sheeting. Flags wave everywhere. One corner is very, very yellow.

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Manchester United have one foot in the final after a commanding display against 10-man Bilbao

3 min: … but nothing comes of it, Ruiz De Galarreta attempting a shot from distance that bounces apologetically through to Onana.

2 min: Bilbao on the front foot quickly. Nico Williams makes good down the left and looks for his brother Inaki at the far stick. Dorgu is forced to turn it behind for the first corner of the game.

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The Ghana international on how recent successes and his club’s feeling and culture fuel hope for their semi-final with Manchester United

Iñaki Williams, the fastest footballer in town, is accelerating again. The more the images come, the quicker he goes, flying through faces, flashbacks and feelings, everything they did and can still do. “It’s madness,” he says, eyes sparkling, the words chasing each other out, emotion building. And then the Athletic Bilbao winger pauses and laughs. “The other day they came to do tests. The cardiologist started to talk about it. He says: ‘That was wonderful; wow, the gabarra …’ And just him mentioning it, on the screen you saw my heart beating faster.”

The gabarra is a barge. Only that’s not all: there is something almost mythical about it, like a legend passed through generations. In an expression of Athletic’s identity, another idiosyncrasy of a unique club, the club’s trophies are celebrated by pulling the gabarra up the Nervión river with the players on board, or so they had been endlessly told, black and white pictures adorning the walls of seemingly every bar. Then, last April, they finally saw it for themselves, Williams leading them on board holding the Copa del Rey. It was the first time in 40 years. More than a million fans lined the river to see it: there were more people with them in Bilbao than live there.

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