Tottenham Hotspur beat Manchester United 1-0 to win a dull Europa League final
Ange Postecoglou's side picked up their first trophy in over seventeen years
LISTEN NOW: It's All Kicking Off! Should Oliver Glasner leave Palace for Spurs?
By MATT BARLOW AT SAN MAMES STADIUM IN BILBAO
Published: 17:38 EDT, 21 May 2025 | Updated: 17:38 EDT, 21 May 2025
Such much for stubborn old Ange and his suicidal high line. Never mind craving flair and flamboyance or the blind stupidity of the gung-ho charge.
Anyone remember those days? What about the League Cup tie between these two teams in December? Seven goals and the Tottenham boss quoting Gladiator after his team squeezed through. Are you not entertained?
To Dare is to Do as they like to say at Spurs and Ange Postecoglou has dared to do it differently. He dared to swallow a little pride and abandon those principles. He dared to defend deep and play on the break.
No, it’s not pretty but, here, in the Basque Country came his reward. A trophy, the first in 17 years and the first in Europe in 41. Silver glinting in the gloom of an untidy final. And with it, a place in Spurs folklore. All with less than 28 per cent of possession.
Ange Ball is dead and in truth died and went cold some time ago. Postecoglou has learned to let his head rule his heart and that started last night with his selection, when he started with his captain on the bench.
Heung-min Son, who has started once since a foot injury, had made no secret of what a trophy would mean after a decade without one but Spurs did not retrace the script of 2019 when Mauricio Pochettino threw Harry Kane straight back in after injury for the Champions League final against Liverpool. They lost with Kane ineffective.
Ange Postecoglou wrote himself into Tottenham folklore by delivering the Europa League win
The Australian manager won a trophy in his second season at Tottenham, as said he would
Ange Postecoglou abandoned his attacking principles to give Tottenham a trophy at long last
Richarlison, who got the nod instead, has made an impression since his return playing on the left of the front three. He did well for Spurs in that position in the first half of the first leg of the Europa League semi-final against Bodo/Glimt.
Pedro Porro fired quite a lot of aerial delivery towards him in that game, with Dominic Solanke looking to drift across to overload at the back post. It led to the first goal and they were 2-0 up at half time when Postecoglou replaced him with Mathys Tel.
With limited creativity and the passing power of James Maddison and Lucas Bergvall absent through injury, it seemed to be a sensible part of the plan again. Porro launched the first long pass of the game in that direction from the kick-off but under-clubbed.
The next time Tottenham’s creative right back sought the Brazilian out it was more threatening and Manchester United were pleased to see Noussair Mazraoui tracking back diligently.
Richarlison ran himself into the ground off for 67 minutes, making a nuisance of himself. Pape Matar Sarr, selected for the third midfield position in the absence of the creative forces of Dejan Kulusevski, James Maddison, and Lucas Bergvall was the same.
Sarr and Richarlison are players you want in your team for an untidy game. And, boy, was this an untidy game?
Tottenham opted out of controlled possession. They played on the turnover, as they were content to do in the away legs of the semi-final at Bodo/Glimt and the quarter-final, at Eintracht Frankfurt.
It has become Postecoglou’s unlikely blueprint in Europe.
The 59-year-old's side won Tottenham's first trophy in over 17 years on Wednesday evening
Players flooded onto the pitch after Tottenham won their first European trophy in 41 years
Despite finishing in seventh in the Premier League they will compete in the Champions League
Tottenham Hotspur beat Manchester United 1-0 to win a dull Europa League final in Bilbao
To Dare is to Do as they like to say at Spurs and Ange Postecoglou has dared to do it differently
Strong at the back, with his first-choice defensive unit fit again although not without moments of alarm, let’s be honest. And the fullbacks are much more selective about the times they raid forward.
They grafted hard, as the goal illustrated. When half-time running data flashed up, Sarr, Dominic Solanke, Richarlison and Brennan Johnson were up in the top five, along with Bruno Fernandes.
Mileage isn’t everything but the goal that separated the teams illustrated what Spurs had done well.
Sarr won the ball, carried it forward, refused to give up on it and Johnson came sprinting across right to left, making the run he always makes to put defenders under pressure.
Once behind, United had to come out and Spurs set about disrupting rhythms as they did so effectively in Bodo. Lots of fouls, free-kicks and stoppages. At the risk of stereotyping the Argentinians, Cristian Romero is an expert at this sort of thing.
United had to come out and Spurs set about disrupting rhythms as they did effectively in Bodo
Johnson caused panic in the Manchester United box as Luke Shaw tapped in an own-goal
There were jubilant scenes in the Tottenham end at the San Mames Stadium after the game
Richarlison went off in stages when replaced by Son. Solanke had little joy but toiled up front, running the channels, closing down and trying to hold up the ball.
Even so, United created chances. Micky van de Ven was required to intervene with his flying Dutchman clearance. Fernandes missed a header, Spurs wobbled and with Alejandro Garnacho threatening, Postecoglou sacrificed Johnson and bolstered his back line.
He went to a back three and threw on more defensive reinforcements as the clock ticked down and they stood firm and repelled Manchester United threw crosses into the penalty area.
In the end, we were not entertained. Not very much. But Spurs resisted. have their piece of silver and Postecoglou has his trophy in his second. Just as he always does. Just as he told us he would.