Are we set for Man Utd v Tottenham final in Europa League?

With Thursday’s semi-final first-leg victories, Manchester United and Tottenham both made significant progress toward reaching the Europa League final.

Tottenham defeated Bodo/Glimt 3-1 in London while United defeated Athletic Bilbao 3-0, who incidentally hosted the final on May 21.

With a 91% chance for Spurs, United has a 97% chance of making it to the final, which is equal to an 88% chance for both teams to make it there.

Just a sixth all-English final in a major European competition, with Spurs playing in half of the matches.

Only 12% of the time in Opta’s data indicates that it won’t be an all-English final.

United won 3-0 over Athletic, who sit fourth in La Liga, and they will hope to get over the line with home advantage next week.

Spurs may feel that their work isn’t being quite as good.

Regardless of where they finish on the domestic scene, the Europa League winners advance to the Champions League the following year.

A United vs. Spurs final would also guarantee their return to the top of European football’s mega-riches.

That rule is useful for both Spurs, who are 16th, and United, who are 14th, both more than 20 points adrift of fifth place.

No one of them will compete in any European competition after the Europa League championship.

The top five teams would be guaranteed a Champions League spot through the league, which would not have any impact on any other English teams.

No nation’s teams have ever won the Champions League, Europa League, or Conference League (even though the latter is only in its fourth year) in the same season.

However, with teams in all the semis in the country this term, it might still happen to England.

Arsenal, who lost 1-0 to Paris St-Germain in the Champions League first leg on Tuesday, has the smallest chance (12.1% of the vote favor Opta).

Two weeks later, Spurs drew 1-1 at White Hart Lane after winning the first leg 2-1 at Molineux, with Martin Chivers scoring twice.

The next English final, which took place in 2007-08 with Manchester United beating Chelsea on penalties in Moscow, would take 36 years.

Before the shootout, John Terry’s miss-and-goal and Cristiano Ronaldo’s goal were best remembered for.

In 2018-19, there were two all-English finals.

Mohamed Salah and Divock Origi scored goals as Liverpool defeated Tottenham 2-0 in the Champions League match in Madrid.

And Chelsea defeated Arsenal 4-1 in Baku to win the Europa League, scoring Eden Hazard twice in his final appearance for the club.