Spurs and Man Utd meet in worst-form European final

A final between two teams that are so uninspired has never been played in European competition history.

The Europa League winners from Wednesday’s game between Manchester United and Tottenham in Bilbao could be the league’s lowest-ever winners of a significant European trophy.

And they will certainly become the lowest team to ever qualify for the European Cup or Champions League.

Spurs is 17th place, while United are 16th, and United have lost 39 league games overall.

Since February 2, only league games have been won against relegated opponents or opponents of each other.

Their points tally could have had them relegated in some previous seasons.

On BBC Radio 5 Live’s Monday Night Club, former Celtic striker Chris Sutton remarked, “I can’t recall a game that was so highly pressurized for both teams.”

BBC Sport senior football correspondent Sami Mokbel and chief football news reporter Simon Stone, who will both be at San Mames for the final, have had their say on whose season has been worse.

Mokbel’s song “Underperformed, Underachieved, Unacceptable” is a. At least psychologically.

” While Tottenham will cling on to hope of somehow turning a catastrophic season into a historic one, there can be no running away from the fact that results and performances have been largely disastrous.

“Twenty-one Premier League defeats and counting.” If Spurs win the Europa League title on Wednesday night, all of that will be forgotten, of course.

” Whether that is enough to keep Ange Postecoglou in a job, however, is the million-dollar question with all the indications pointing towards the Australian departing regardless of the outcome in Bilbao.

“The fact that Postecoglou’s tenure in north London appears to be coming to an end soon shows how pitiful their domestic campaign has been,” they said.

“To their credit, injuries have diminished Tottenham’s season. They have lost key players for long periods of time.

“But this is a highly-assembled Tottenham squad,” according to the club-record £65m signing of Dominic Solanke.

“Manchester United are in a transitional season,” according to the statement.

“It’s different for Tottenham. This was a team prepared to compete for Champions League qualification following Postecoglou’s positive first season in charge, which saw Spurs finish fifth.

Instead, they could move up one place to the top. That’s undeniably poor. “

Manchester United have suffered worse because of their own actions, according to Stone.

United “reviewed Erik ten Hag’s tenure after their 4-0 defeat at Crystal Palace in May, and then after their FA Cup final victory over Manchester City, and made the decision to stick with him.”

” United gave him money to spend, specifically on Matthijs de Ligt and Joshua Zirkzee in the summer, then sacked him after nine games.

And United told Ruben Amorim to start right away, not wait until the summer, before he could join Sporting.

The safety net is Bilbao and then that United hit the ground running at the start of the following year, which would justifies the refusal to wait for Amorim.

“But, in the here and now, United have been woeful.

There have been times in video games where the passing triangles worked and the game appeared fluid.

Rasmus Hojlund has not, however, looked a threat on either side of the field, and their fundamental errors have undermined them both.

” With six minutes left of extra time in their Europa League quarter-final against 10-man Lyon, it was not easy to strike a single optimistic note on United’s behalf. They somehow came to their rescue.

“United has now won one point out of five Premier League games. No-one has done worse than that.

This is United’s worst season overall since the 1973-1974 relegation campaign. Additionally, they reported £113. 2 million in financial losses in September.

Only two teams with domestic league records have ever won a trophy in Europe.

That includes the old Inter-Cities Fairs Cup, European Cup Winners ‘ Cup, Uefa Cup, European Cup, Champions League, Europa League and newish Conference League.

West Ham finished 14th in the Premier League before moving up to third-place Conference League just two seasons ago, making them the lowest-ranked team ever.

14th place is the highest position that Manchester United or Spurs can achieve, with a number of outcomes required.

The other lowest finishes have all come in various iterations of the Europa League.

Inter Milan won the Uefa Cup in 1993-94, only managing to hold on for one point (in the previous system of two points for a win). The team finished 13th out of 18 Serie A teams.

And a team that finished 12th has won it three times: Sevilla, Schalke, and Arsenal in the 1969-1970 Inter-Cities Fairs Cup.

That Sevilla team are the lowest-placed to have ever qualified for the European Cup or Champions League – until now.

Sutton, a former Chelsea player, said: “There won’t be a lot of quality on display.

“Both sets of players will be apprehensive and nervous,” the player said.

On Amorim and Postecoglou making changes in recent Premier League games, he added:” I don’t understand why they are gripped by fear. Both managers want to have momentum going into the cup final.

This will be the sixth all-English final in a European competition, with Chelsea or Tottenham in the lead.

England is the first nation to participate in Uefa competition without the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup.

Tottenham beat Wolves for the 1972 Uefa Cup final and Manchester United defeated Chelsea to win the 2008 Champions League.

Both English-language finals took place in 2019, with Chelsea defeating Arsenal in the Europa League and Liverpool defeating Tottenham in the Champions League.

Both managers have silverware won abroad, but they are looking for their first trophy in charge of an English club.

Both teams will be desperate to win this game, but they have very different motivations.

This would be Tottenham’s first European trophy since 1984 and their first since the 2008 Carabao Cup.

It would vindicate Postecoglou’s early-season declaration that he always wins a trophy in his second season.

And somehow their worst domestic season since the 1970s might turn out to be their best.

Former Republic of Ireland goalkeeper Shay Given said, “I’m sure if that happens on Wednesday night Ange will be smug walking off the pitch and saying, “See you later, I’ve told you what I do mate.”

Sutton reckons if Spurs lose, Postecoglou may not even be in charge for the final game of the Premier League season at home to Brighton on Sunday.

The former Blackburn forward predicted that if Postecoglou wins, he would be welcomed. But “just imagine the atmosphere if Tottenham loses,” he said.

” I suspect he might not be in charge if that happens because that will be as toxic as anything. “

Champions League qualification is the ultimate goal for Manchester United, who have won domestic cups in the last two seasons.

According to Kieran Maguire, a specialist in football finance, it was the most significant game in the club’s history financially.

Sutton feels the game is a potential” get-out-of-jail-free card “for Amorim.

The Portuguese, who hopes to oversee a summer rebuild, said: “I think qualifying for the Champions League is more crucial for everything than the preparation for the following season.