Football writer Tom Prentki reports on the all-Premier League final of the UEFA Europa League, at San Mames stadium in Bilbao.
Tottenham Hotspur’s 17-year wait for silverware is over. For the fourth time this season, they beat Manchester United and turned the bleakest of campaigns into a night of glittering European triumph.
The occasion will forever be etched in the club’s history, even if there wasn’t much for the neutral to get excited about.
Ironically, given how their Premier League season has unfolded, this was a heroic rearguard action from Spurs who were camped in their own defensive third for long periods of the second half.
It ensures that Man Utd end a dismal season without the compensation of a place in next season’s Champions League.
Spurs had certainly had the better of recent meetings, winning four and drawing two of the last six games between the teams but Ange Postecoglou branded that statistic "irrelevant," saying "your form coming into finals doesn't count for much."
Talk ahead of kick-off suggested that Postecoglou would be leaving Spurs at the end of the season, regardless of the result in Bilbao.
His opposite number, Ruben Amorim, insisted that a United triumph would "not change so much" given how poor his team’s domestic campaign has been – their worst in the top flight for more than half a century - but instead stated that "the most important thing is the feeling of winning."
Never had there been a European final with two teams placed so far down the domestic tables, with United 16th in the Premier League and Spurs 17th, after a staggering 39 league defeats between them this season.
Spurs' talisman Son Heung-min was left on the bench and with a midfield consisting of Pape Sarr, Yves Bissouma and Rodrigo Bentancur, Postecoglou appeared to have opted for a pragmatic selection.
For Man Utd, Mason Mount’s recent form earned him a start with Manuel Ugarte the player to miss out whilst Luke Shaw also returned to the starting 11.
It was Man Utd who made the brighter start with Rasmus Hojlund prominent in the opening minutes and teeing up a chance for Bruno Fernandes to shoot, an effort which struck Mount and deflected to safety.
Understandably perhaps, the early stages were tense and scrappy but Spurs came close when Brennan Johnson nipped past Harry Maguire and forced Andre Onana into a reaction save. At the other end, Amad gave Spurs a scare when he got in down the right and flashed the ball across goal with Hojlund and Casemiro unable to connect.
Amad was Man Utd's biggest threat with Destiny Udogie and Richarlison often caught too far forward on Spurs’ left to recover and block him.
With the game petering out towards half-time, Spurs struck out of nowhere. Bentancur drove down the left and found Sarr who swung his cross dangerously towards Johnson at the near post, where a combination of his pressure and Luke Shaw’s arm saw the ball bobble past Onana.
1-Johnson goal v Man Utd
Spurs' plans to disrupt Man Utd continued into the second half and would have pleased Postecoglou even if it didn’t do much for the spectacle.
Richarlison picked up a booking for a petulant trip on Noussair Mazraoui and from the resulting free-kick, Lenny Yoro got a touch which forced Guglielmo Vicario to flash out an arm and save.
Spurs then had an opening after a marauding counter-attack from Udogie saw him slip the ball to Dominic Solanke whose touch was too heavy and allowed Maguire to snuff out the danger.
Man Utd were struggling to create anything in open play but almost equalised when Vicario made a mess of collecting a free-kick and the ball broke free for Hojlund to head at goal, only to be denied by an incredible, acrobatic clearance on the line from Micky van de Ven.
Micky van de Ven
Amorim then brought on Joshua Zirkzee and Alejandro Garnacho for the ineffective Mount and Hojlund and immediately they carried more threat.
Postecoglou responded by throwing on yet another defender, Kevin Danso, in place of the goalscorer Johnson as Spurs positioned everyone behind the ball and dug in.
They were forced to endure an excruciating seven minutes of added time and the Spurs boss brought on further reinforcements in the form of Archie Gray and Djed Spence to provide some much-needed fresh legs.
In the final minute of additional time, Vicario saved dramatically to his left as Shaw connected firmly with Diego Dalot’s cross and after Spurs successfully defended one last corner, their 17-year wait for silverware was finally over.