Manchester United have a new football heritage ahead of Europa League final vs Tottenham

Yahoo

09-05-2025

Football heritage has a new meaning at Manchester United. Five cups, four more finals and the prospect of another trophy would represent a golden period for most clubs. United have crammed all of that into a doldrum decade.
Their ninth European final will be more meaningful than their eighth, when supporters had to undergo more tests than a pupil during summer exams just to enter Gdansk in 2021. That Covid-impacted final was a hollow experience that served up 120 moribund minutes between United and Villarreal.
United-Tottenham in a splendid Spanish city is the most consequential final in the Europa League era of what was once known as the Uefa Cup. Champions League qualification raises the stakes, never mind the prize pot of nearly £100million.
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"The money is not the most important," Ruben Amorim insisted. "Even the title to win as a coach, is that feeling that we can do good things, the feeling to give something to our fans. Particularly in this season.
"It's not just playing Champions League next season, it's that feeling that we can change things."
Champions League qualification was not at the forefront of United fans' minds during their sole triumph in the Europa League. The 2017 final in Stockholm stirred raw emotions, held 48 hours after the barbaric Manchester Arena attack. On a sporting level, United completed the set by lifting a trophy whose silhouette did not previously appear on their honours' board.
Tottenham have won the Uefa Cup twice. They have reached a Champions League final much more recently than United. As easy as some find it to deride Spurs, they are a bigger club than some that will finish in the top five of the Premier League and they boast European pedigree.
United, for such a storied club, should have more European honours than the five they celebrated with their first tifo before the quarter-final tie with Lyon. We enter and exit the Old Trafford media centre via the Munich tunnel, a reminder not just of the tragedy that decimated the club in 1958 but the trailblazer that Sir Matt Busby and his Babes were when they embraced the European Cup competition.
Leaving last night, a young fan asked about the final. It is a fascinating dynamic. Amorim admitted - with a chuckle - he and Ange Postecoglou are both "struggling". Spurs have won four and drawn one against United under Postecoglou.
"But they're bottlers," the lad wryly added. One cannot argue with that. Since Spurs beat Chelsea in the 2008 League Cup final, they have lost finals in 2009, 2015, 2019 and 2021. 'Spursy' entered the football lexicon some time ago.
Many are banking on United's mettle, disregarding their recent record against Spurs. "Every game has its history," Amorim said. "We lost the three last games, we can win this one, so if you look at the loss, we are closer to win than to lose.
"Both teams are going to play all or nothing. The position of the coach is quite similar. I know Ange has one more year (on his contract), it is different, the context, but we are struggling, both of us! I don't know what is going to happen, it's a good thing and a bad thing with this team, I never know!"
Postecoglou is 90 minutes away from making good on his pledge that "I always win things in my second year". The final is expected to be his last match in charge of Spurs. Looking from the outside, that inevitability seems to have emboldened him to ensure he leaves on a high Tottenham have not experienced in 17 years.
Objectively, Spurs edge United in most areas. Guglielmo Vicario has been a better goalie than Andre Onana since they stepped foot on these shores from Europe's boot. Pedro Porro and Destiny Udogie trump Diogo Dalot and Patrick Dorgu. Micky van de Ven is one of the Premier League's best centre halves when fit. They have more technically rounded midfielders than United and Dominic Solanke is a more reliable marksman than Rasmus Hojlund.
But we come back to Sir Alex Ferguson's most famous team talk: lads, it's Tottenham. United's Europa League record is daunting: 16 games, nine wins, five draws, no defeats and 35 goals scored. In the six knockout ties, United plundered 19 goals while their Premier League goal difference sank towards minus double figures.
United also have greater depth. Athletic Bilbao petered out quicker than the pyrotechnic smoke after Amad, Mason Mount and Kobbie Mainoo were introduced on Thursday night. Spurs are certain to be without Lucas Bergvall and James Maddison in Bilbao.
Amorim should dismiss United's 3-0 humbling by Tottenham in September. Erik ten Hag was still clinging on and United's season was an extension of last season. Nothing was going to change until they changed the manager.
The madcap League Cup tie in December is hardly relevant, either. United had Altay Bayindir, Antony and Christian Eriksen in their starting XI. Bayindir was not even the worst 'keeper on the pitch, with the cumbersome Fraser Forster up the other end.
As for the 1-0 league loss in February, United were so depleted that Victor Lindelof was the bench's babysitter. Eight of the nine substitutes had never played for the club at the time. The only substitution Amorim made, a debut for Chido Obi, was in the 89th minute.
It is a quirk of fate that United could win their second Europa League under a second Portuguese manager. Amorim and Jose Mourinho are the only United managers to reach a European final in their first season.
Mourinho, of course, also managed Spurs and guided them to their last final in 2021. He was sacked six days before Spurs surrendered to City with Ryan Mason in the dugout for his first match in management.
Of all his sackings, Mourinho told his former player John Obi Mikel that "the most ridiculous one was a club that has an empty trophy room [and] sacks me two days before a final". After City beat Spurs, Mourinho sent a friend an image of the 'Finalists 2020/21' keyring that Spurs had seriously flogged.
That is football heritage.