{"id":86222,"date":"2025-05-09T02:45:09","date_gmt":"2025-05-09T02:45:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/86222\/"},"modified":"2025-05-09T02:45:09","modified_gmt":"2025-05-09T02:45:09","slug":"man-utd-to-meet-spurs-in-comedic-europa-league-final-after-mount-masterclass","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/86222\/","title":{"rendered":"Man Utd to meet Spurs in comedic Europa League final after Mount masterclass"},"content":{"rendered":"

Manchester United vs Tottenham Hotspur is a Europa League final to look forward to, and despite their domestic struggles, they\u2019ve comfortably been the two best teams in the competition this season.<\/p>\n

Spurs have looked oddly at ease in Europe<\/strong><\/a>, completely contradicting their Premier League form, while Ruben Amorim\u2019s side remain the only unbeaten team in European competition this season.<\/p>\n

They brushed aside Athletic Bilbao 7-1 on aggregate, with a pair of three-goal wins. And while Thursday\u2019s second leg flirted with drama, the failure of Bilbao to find a second goal meant Old Trafford never truly descended into panic.<\/p>\n

In a competition United<\/strong><\/a> have to win, Amorim took no risks, naming the same XI that had coasted to victory in Spain.<\/p>\n

It was never going to be as easy this time \u2013 it simply couldn\u2019t go any worse for Ernesto Valverde and his players than it had in the first leg. Even without the Williams brothers, with both Nico and Inaki ruled out through injury. Yes, that Inaki Williams \u2013 the one who once played 251 straight La Liga games. Turns out he\u2019s not indestructible.<\/p>\n

Bilbao were trying to overturn a 3-0 deficit against a side worth considerably more than them. To put it into context, they\u2019ve only twice spent more on a player than United did just to sack Erik ten Hag and hire Amorim. There\u2019s your pointless stat of the night.<\/p>\n

READ MORE:\u00a0Why we want Manchester United to win the Europa League (SPOILER: It\u2019s funny)<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

And yet, for all that disparity, any away side has a bit of hope at Old Trafford these days. Bilbao gave it a go. The issue? Finishing. Or lack of it.<\/p>\n

Alex Berenguer tried to find the postage stamp and overhit it. Mikel Jauregizar, just 21, did manage their only shot on target \u2013 a lovely long-range strike that Andre Onana parried into the net.<\/p>\n

It was a brutal 60 seconds for United: Bilbao scored to inject a bit of tension, and at the same time, \u00a380million flop Antony was bending in a free-kick for Real Betis. Manchester United players getting good again the second they leave Old Trafford\u2019s orbit will never not be funny.<\/p>\n

Another common occurrence is Alejandro Garnacho missing simple one-on-ones. His dink wide only added to the unease, and the sense grew that Bilbao might just nick a second and make this properly nervy.<\/p>\n

But it didn\u2019t happen.<\/p>\n

Mason Mount\u2019s sublime equaliser killed the tie and Bilbao completely gave up. Casemiro added another \u2013 a header, as in the first leg \u2013 just to rub it in and make sure United\u2019s unbeaten record in Europe lives on.<\/p>\n

Rasmus Hojlund thought he\u2019d rounded it off with a tap-in, but the cherry was reserved for Mount\u2019s second \u2013 and third in two games \u2013 a left-footed effort from somewhere near Salford. Listen, fair play.<\/p>\n

Amorim\u2019s subs did the damage. Mount bagged a brace. Amad Diallo set up Hojlund. Kobbie Mainoo squeezed in two take-ons in just 11 minutes. Lovely job.<\/p>\n

And so, we get the final we didn\u2019t know we needed: two broken Premier League giants, 15th vs 16th, 35 combined defeats, not a single one of them on 40 points. And yet, they\u2019ll meet in Bilbao with a place in next season\u2019s Champions League and \u00a3100million on the line.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s ridiculous. But it\u2019s not undeserved. In this competition, they\u2019ve looked the part. That\u2019s all that counts.<\/p>\n

The loser, though, is going to feel it like a tonne of bricks. For United, it\u2019s about funding a rebuild that would be near-impossible without Champions League football and that windfall.<\/p>\n

For Spurs, it could decide Postecoglou\u2019s job \u2013 even if they win it, he\u2019s not safe; if they don\u2019t, he\u2019s done. They might be better equipped to absorb the blow, but don\u2019t mistake that for a lack of hunger. This is a club still chasing its first trophy since 2008, in case you weren\u2019t aware.<\/p>\n

United have fared far better on the silverware front in that time, even when you take out the five years under Sir Alex Ferguson. Win in Bilbao, and they\u2019ll have won a trophy in each of the last three seasons. Somehow. Despite being a complete and utter shambles on and off the pitch.<\/p>\n

Honestly, we didn\u2019t expect it to pan out this way, but we are absolutely here for it and genuinely excited for a football match where two teams try their absolute hardest to lose.<\/p>\n

READ NEXT:\u00a0Mikel Arteta mid-table in Premier League manager rankings topped by staggering Slot<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Manchester United vs Tottenham Hotspur is a Europa League final to look forward to, and despite their domestic…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":86223,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4100],"tags":[14146,14147,94,163,225,98,79,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-86222","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-football","8":"tag-f365-features","9":"tag-f365-says","10":"tag-football","11":"tag-front-page","12":"tag-home-page","13":"tag-manchester-united","14":"tag-sports","15":"tag-uk","16":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114475586312048951","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86222","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=86222"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86222\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/86223"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=86222"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=86222"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=86222"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}