‘Man Utd know how to win trophies. Tottenham don’t’

Manchester United and Tottenham will meet in an all-English Europa League final on 21 May.

Ruben Amorim’s United saw off Spanish side Athletic Bilbao 7-1 on aggregate in their semi-final to progress, while Spurs got the better of Norwegians Bodo/Glimt 5-1 on aggregate.

United are looking to win the Europa League for the second time in eight years, while Tottenham are bidding to end a 41-year wait for European success.

It is the sixth all-English final in any major European competition – with half of them involving Spurs.

Tottenham are looking to win a first trophy of any kind in 17 years and they will fancy themselves as favourites for the game in Bilbao, having beaten United three times already this season.

Spurs won 3-0 at Old Trafford and 1-0 at home in the Premier League and also triumphed 4-3 in the League Cup.

“If you think in the odds it’s hard for the club to lose four times in a row,” United boss Ruben Amorim said. “We can think that way.”

Former Tottenham midfielder Glenn Hoddle agreed that it would be difficult for Spurs to win again.

“To beat a team four times also from the Premier League in one season is really tough,” Hoddle said on TNT Sports.

He added: “It will be a titanic battle. Spurs have had the upper hand at the moment but United will be looking for revenge.”

United last won the Europa League in 2016-17, when Jose Mourinho was manager.

Despite the club’s poor season domestically, ex-Red Devils midfielder Paul Scholes is confident his former side will rise to the occasion in the final.

He said: “For some reason, the history of this club is almost like Real Madrid at times – when they aren’t playing that well they can still go on and win European cups.

Manchester United and Tottenham have struggled domestically this season as they sit 15th and 16th respectively in the Premier League.

However, a European trophy will ensure the campaign will ultimately be viewed as a successful one.

“It’s going to upset a lot of people isn’t it?” said Tottenham boss Ange Postecoglou.

“Neither us will get a trophy if we win, we’re just going to take a team picture.

“Who cares if we’re struggling in the league?

“This club and others have finished first, second and third in the Premier League and haven’t made finals. I couldn’t care less who is struggling and who’s not.

Spurs’ impressive record over United extends further back than just this season.

They have won four of the past six meetings in all competitions, with United last beating them 2-0 in the Premier League in October 2022.

But data analysts Opta have made United slight favourites to triumph in the final.

Their supercomputer gives the Red Devils a 50.7% chance of lifting the Europa League trophy, with Tottenham at 49.3%.

“I think the final is poised to be absolutely brilliant,” former Manchester City midfielder Izzy Christiansen said on TNT Sports.

The winners of the Europa League go into the following season’s Champions League, regardless of where they finish domestically.

So a United v Spurs final guarantees one of them a return to the mega-riches of European football’s top table.

That rule is handy for United and Spurs, who are both more than 20 points behind fifth place.

Without winning the Europa League, neither of them will be in any European competition next season.

It would not have any knock-on effect on any other English teams – with the top five guaranteed a Champions League spot through the league.

United and Tottenham’s unusually poor domestic seasons mean that if both teams reach the Europa League final next week and stay in their current Premier League positions, the winner would be the lowest-ranked domestic side to win the competition in the past 15 years.

Opta data shows that since the Europa League was rebranded in 2009-10, no team finishing lower than 12th in their domestic league has competed in the final or won it.

Sevilla (12th) won the tournament in 2023, while Fulham (12th) lost the final in 2010.

And this is also the first season with new league phase formats in Europe – previously teams who finished third in their Champions League groups would drop into the Europa League, in theory making the competition harder to win.

In previous years, teams who were eliminated from the first phase of the Champions League dropped into the Europa League.

But that changed from this season after Uefa club competitions underwent their biggest changes for more than a decade.

That likely boosted United and Tottenham’s chances of reaching the final because in the past 15 seasons 10 finalists were sides who dropped from the Champions League.

The first Uefa Cup in 1971-72 was between Tottenham and Wolves in a two-legged final.

Spurs won the first leg 2-1 at Molineux, with Martin Chivers scoring twice, and drew 1-1 at White Hart Lane two weeks later.

It would take 36 years for the next all-English final, which was in the 2007-08 Champions League as Manchester United beat Chelsea on penalties in Moscow.

Cristiano Ronaldo and Frank Lampard traded goals before a shootout that is best remembered for John Terry’s miss after slipping.

There were two all-English finals in 2018-19.

Liverpool beat Tottenham 2-0 in the Champions League in Madrid, with goals from Mohamed Salah and Divock Origi.

And Chelsea saw off Arsenal 4-1 in Baku in the Europa League, with Eden Hazard netting twice in his final game for the club.