- Shock Manchester United 1-0 in Bilbao final
BY VICTOR OSOWOCHI – After 17 years of trophyless performance, Tottenham Hotspur beat Manchester United 1-0 on Wednesday night to win the Europa League final, lifting their first European trophy in more than four decades and also securinh a spot in the Champions League next season.
It was Brennan Johnson who scored the all-important winner at the San Mames Stadium in Bilbao to end Spurs’ wait for a trophy while offering Manager Ange Postecoglou and the North London Club some respite from a woeful premier league season.
Johnson’s solitary strike at the end of the first half helped Spurs to salvage a dismal season, in which they will finish near the bottom of the Premier League standings.
On Wednesday’s golden night for their long-suffering supporters, there was only one story, and one mission for Postecoglou and Spurs. It was about grasping an opportunity that does not come around very often, about emerging from what has felt like a generation’s worth of jibes; about winning.
Rising from the ashes of a nightmarish showing in the Premiership, Tottenham chased the baggage from their backs, they changed the narrative. Gloriously, Postecoglou won in his second season at a club, ensuring that the team, for the first time since 2008, got their hands on a trophy.
The victory is the first major title for Tottenham since capturing the English League Cup in 2008, and their first European triumph since winning the second UEFA Cup, the equivalent of the Europa League now, in 1984.
The title not only guarantees Spurs a spot in next season’s Champions League, but also brings some much-needed relief for their embattled Manager after he struggled to keep his team on track all year.
Also, for the records, this victory comes six years after Tottenham fell short against Liverpool in the Champions League final.
For underperforming Manchester United Manager, Ruben Amorim, whose team sits in 16th place, just ahead of Tottenham, in the Premier League, the defeat adds pressure on him since coming on board Old Trafford in November 2024.
By this defeat, the club lost the golden opportunity of playing in any European competition next season.
In Bilbao, they came close to earning an equaliser on Wednesday when a header by Rasmus Hojlund was cleared at the goal line by Tottenham’s Micky van de Ven in the 68th.
Also, deep into stoppage time, a header by Luke Shaw prompted a difficult save by Tottenham goalkeeper Guglielmo Vicario.
It was an even match, with neither team creating many significant scoring opportunities, until Tottenham got on the board in the 42nd minute after a cross by Pape Sarr into the area.
The ball ricocheted off Shaw and fell in front of Johnson, who seemed to get just enough of it to poke it past Keeper Andre Onana and across the goal line.
United pressed forward after conceding, but was not able to get the equaliser in front of a split crowd of nearly 50,000 at Athletic Bilbao’s San Mames Stadium.
The last time United won a trophy was in the 2024 FA Cup, while their last European triumph came in the 2017 Europa League under Manager Jose Mourinho.
In this season, the Red Devils have lost all four matches against Tottenham and are winless against their rival in seven straight games, with the last six under Postecoglou.
Before now, both sides had met in just one previous final, the 2009 League Cup when Alex Ferguson’s United won 4-1 on penalties after a 0-0 draw.
And for dependable striker, Son Heung-min, it was an historic moment of breaking the jinx as he came off the bench in the 67th, and finally ended his decade-long trophy drought with Tottenham.
