Ready for the challenge: Archie Gray, Brennan Johnson and Lucas Bergvall line up for the Champions League anthem
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With their Europa League final victory over Manchester United on Wednesday, Tottenham will play Champions League football next season.
To some, that might seem preposterous when you consider that they sit 17th in the Premier League this term.
However, despite Arsene Wenger’s previous protestations, the Europa League winners will continue to progress straight through into the Champions League main draw, and Spurs will join the Premier League’s top five in the league phase of Europe’s elite club competition.
It was a game where 16th met 17th, with both sides and managers Ange Postecoglou and Ruben Amorim both desperately needing a final flourish to spin otherwise torrid campaigns into a positive.
It turned out that it was the Australian’s night in Bilbao, as Brennan Johnson’s 42nd-minute winner proved enough at the San Mames.
As the Spurs players celebrated their first trophy since the League Cup in 2008, a select group were already practising their line-ups in preparation for being under the Champions League lights once more.
Second season success: Ange Postecoglou
AP
In a video posted on the club’s official social media accounts, Yves Bissouma, James Maddison, Archie Gray, Radu Dragusin, Johnson, Lucas Bergvall, and Mikey Moore mocked up a pretend Champions League pre-match line-up in the Spurs dressing room, shoulder to shoulder, with the famous Champions League anthem blaring in the background.
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The camera panned its way from right to left, with Bissouma first, working its way down the line to Moore last.
Some of the players decided to go one step further, with Maddison producing a sign of the cross, while Gray mimicked Ronaldinho’s infamous ‘licking of the lips’.
Bergvall had his right arm raised as if ready for battle, while Moore had his fingers pointing to the heavens.
Who will join Spurs in the Champions League next season is still up in the air, with the final day of the Premier League campaign the ultimate decider.
Arsenal cemented their place back in the competition - and second place in the league - with a 1-0 victory over fellow contenders Newcastle at the Emirates Stadium last weekend.
Manchester City occupy third, three points off Arsenal on 68, although they are eight goals worse off than the Gunners.
Newcastle are back in fourth on 66 points, tied with Chelsea and Aston Villa beneath them.
Eddie Howe’s side have the healthiest goal difference at +22, while Enzo Maresca’s Blues are two goals shy of them. The Villans are some way off, with +9.
Nottingham Forest, in seventh, have an outside chance of crashing the top five as they sit on 65 points, but they face Chelsea at home on the final day in what will be a high-stakes affair at the City Ground on Sunday.
Arsenal travel to already-relegated Southampton, while City are away at Fulham. Newcastle host Everton, and Aston Villa travel to Old Trafford.