{"id":85833,"date":"2025-05-08T23:14:16","date_gmt":"2025-05-08T23:14:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/85833\/"},"modified":"2025-05-08T23:14:16","modified_gmt":"2025-05-08T23:14:16","slug":"man-utd-to-meet-spurs-in-europa-league-final-chelsea-through","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/85833\/","title":{"rendered":"Man Utd to meet Spurs in Europa League final, Chelsea through"},"content":{"rendered":"

All three Premier League clubs have progressed through to their respective finals, setting up an all-English UEFA Europa League final between Manchester United<\/a> and Tottenham Hotspur<\/a> and leaving Chelsea<\/a> the favourites to win the UEFA Conference League.<\/p>\n

The parallels between the two sides are striking, setting up a final of monumental significance, as big as Man Utd’s penalty shootout victory over Chelsea in the 2008 UEFA Champions League final or Liverpool\u2019s 2-0 win against Spurs in the same competition in 2019.<\/p>\n

“I think it\u2019s quite similar for me and Ange<\/a> [Postecoglou<\/a>],\u201d United head coach Ruben Amorim<\/a> told TNT Sports after the game. \u201cIt\u2019s a tough moment. One of us is going to win. It\u2019s going to be a big final.\u201d<\/p>\n

For Spurs and Chelsea the task proved relatively straightforward in the end, but for Man Utd it was yet another epic cup game at Old Trafford defined \u2013 as it so often seems to be – by tension, nerves, and a spectacular finish.<\/p>\n

Manchester United 4-1 Athletic Club (agg 7-1)<\/p>\n

A dazzling cameo from Mason Mount<\/a> will be remembered at Old Trafford for years to come.<\/p>\n

A Cruyff turn, a brilliant low curling effort into the far corner, and in two touches substitute Mount had put Man Utd into the Europa League final.<\/p>\n

His 72nd-minute strike, equalising the tie on the night, was the start of an impressive turnaround that ended, wonderfully, with Mount scoring a 91st-minute strike from the halfway line to complete a 4-1 victory on the night and 7-1 on aggregate.<\/p>\n

Fans inside Old Trafford had been starting to worry after Mikel Jauregizar\u2019s opener and some increasingly one-sided football, but a smart triple substitution from Ruben Amorim turned the tide, and by the time Casemiro<\/a> added a second after 80 minutes Athletic \u2013 valiant in defeat \u2013 were already beaten.<\/p>\n

Rasmus Hojlund<\/a>\u2019s third goal – a tap-in after great work from Amad<\/a> with five minutes remaining, scored amid ol\u00e9s from the crowd – was so simple you could be forgiven for thinking this match had been a walk in the park.<\/p>\n

It most definitely had not.<\/p>\n

Man Utd seemed to be in control of the tie as we approached the half-hour mark, but out of nothing the mood darkened.<\/p>\n

After 31 minutes a long punt forward saw the ball drop to Harry Maguire<\/a> who, after losing the first header, passed the ball carelessly into open grass. Alvaro Djalo\u2019s initial shot was blocked before Mikel Jauregizar fired a wonderful curling effort into the top corner from 20 yards.<\/p>\n

Old Trafford was shell-shocked, Amorim began to prowl his dugout like a caged tiger, and all of a sudden the looseness of United\u2019s performance \u2013 the pockets of space opening between the lines \u2013 felt more like an ominous prelude of things to come.<\/p>\n

Athletic raced out of the blocks in the second half, pinning United into their own third to announce their intention to pull off a minor miracle in Manchester.<\/p>\n

It wasn\u2019t long before Bruno Fernandes<\/a> began yelling instructions, before brows furrowed, before messiness crept into their game and Athletic began to ease through the thirds like we were back in late-stage Erik ten Hag<\/a>.<\/p>\n