Spurs beat Man United in Europa League final to end 17-year trophy drought 2c7166

Tottenham Hotspur beat Manchester United 1-0 in an ugly Europa League final on Wednesday, simultaneously ending the club's 17-year trophy drought and salvaging an otherwise dismal season with Champions League qualification. 1g444l

Brennan Johnson decided the encounter in Bilbao with a goal near the end of the first half. It was the first time Spurs had scored in a final since Jonathan Woodgate headed the winner in the 2008 League Cup showpiece.

Spurs' joy after the final whistle starkly contrasted the expressions on the Manchester United players' faces. The club can finish no higher than 14th in the 2024-25 Premier League campaign, failed to collect silverware elsewhere, and won't compete in any European competition next term.

Both winning manager Ange Postecoglou and losing coach Ruben Amorim might not be in charge of their teams at the beginning of next season. However, against all odds and in clear defiance of eye tests throughout Tottenham's error-strewn term, Postecoglou has delivered on his promise of silverware in his second season with the club.

"It was me just making a declaration, and I believed it - at the time I said it, I was still looking out for our club," Postecoglou explained after the match. "I know our league form has been terrible, but us finishing third wasn't going to change this football club. The only thing that was going to change this football club was us winning something. And when I said that, that was my intent."

The opening period between the Premier League's fourth- and fifth-worst teams was predictably scrappy, punctuated by 16 fouls and a punishing lowlight reel of heavy or wayward es. Tottenham's first goal suited the spectacle.

Pape Sarr's dangerous cross in the 42nd minute was somehow diverted past Andre Onana as Johnson and Luke Shaw collided at the near post. Johnson was generously credited with the goal.

Amad Diallo was United's best attacking outlet, but the young Ivorian winger lacked a decisive touch whenever he squirmed free of white shirts.

The quality was no better after the break. Rasmus Hojlund headed Guglielmo Vicario's poor punch straight over his head and toward the goalkeeper's net, only to be denied by Micky van de Ven's athletic hook on the goal line. Vicario saved a late Shaw header, and Casemiro's overhead kick hit the side-netting, but United struggled to create many meaningful chances in northern Spain.

"For a club like Manchester United, it's nowhere near good enough," Shaw said after the match. "I think definitely me, and I think all of us have to question ourselves tonight, are we good enough to be here? Because this club, this season, it's not acceptable."