A first-half goal separated the Premier League pair.
Manchester United’s Luke Shaw scores an own goal following a cross from Tottenham Hotspur’s Brennan Johnson during the UEFA Europa League final at the Estadio de San Mames, Bilbao, Spain. Picture date: Wednesday May 21, 2025.
Manchester United’s Luke Shaw scores an own goal following a cross from Tottenham Hotspur’s Brennan Johnson during the UEFA Europa League final at the Estadio de San Mames, Bilbao, Spain. Picture date: Wednesday May 21, 2025. (PA Wire)
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Tottenham ended their 17-year trophy drought and sent misfiring Manchester United into a tailspin as under-fire Ange Postecoglou oversaw a 1-0 victory in Wednesday’s all-or-nothing Europa League final.
It has long been a case of Bilbao or bust for these teams considering their wretched Premier League campaigns, with the San Mames showpiece offering the winner silverware and much-needed Champions League qualification.
Spurs edged this tense all-English final, with Brennan Johnson’s goal, thanks in no small part to a touch from Luke Shaw, Micky van de Ven goal-line clearance and Guglielmo Vicario’s stoppage-time save seeing them win a first trophy since the Carling Cup in 2008.
Beaming boss Postecoglou silenced the critics – temporarily at least – as he stuck to his word by winning a trophy in his second season, while United will now spend a first campaign without European football since 2014-15.
Ruben Amorim’s already tough rebuild becomes that much harder without Champions League qualification after the Red Devils lost a first Europa League match of the campaign at the worst possible time.
It compounds their worst top-flight season since suffering relegation 51 years ago, but this is Tottenham’s night as Postecoglou’s men joined the UEFA Cup winners of 1972 and 1984 in immortality.