Spurs boss Ange Postecoglou is vindicated with scrappy Europa League final win over Man Utd in Bilbao to seal a £100million Champions League place for next season
Ange Postecoglou proved he is no clown by leading Tottenham to their first trophy for 17 years over the circus that is Manchester United.
On the eve of the game, the Spurs boss took umbrage at the depiction of him as a figure of fun – but had the last laugh by masterminding this win.
Postecoglou invited ridicule at the start of the campaign by stating he always wins a trophy in his second season. But that proud boast was vindicated on a historic night in Bilbao.
Despite leading Spurs to a memorable triumph and a coveted place in the Champions League, Postecoglou is still facing the sack after a lamentable domestic season.
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But if Postecoglou does leave, it will be with his head held high, his bruised reputation restored by this triumph, despite such a shocking Premier League campaign, which has seen Spurs lose 21 times.
For captain Son Heung-Min, not fit enough to start but who came on and basked in the glory at the final whistle, a first trophy was a fitting reward for a decade of loyal service to the Spurs cause.
For United, who failed to show up in the San Mames Stadium, there will be no European football next season for only the second time in 35 years.
Ruben Amorim’s side arrived in Bilbao as the only unbeaten side in major European competition this season, but that proud run came to an inglorious end.
When United used to face Spurs under Sir Alex Ferguson, his team talk was famously “Lads, it’s Tottenham”, the inference being it would be a walk in the park.
But it is United who now find themselves cast in the role of pushovers, the fallen giants having hit a new low in a season of unremitting turmoil on and off the pitch.
For a European final – one with a Champions League place for the winners – to be contested by two such poor sides, did little for the prestige of the competition. Fittingly, for two sides grubbing around near the foot of the Premier League, this showpiece event was desperately short on quality.
With so much at stake for both teams and for an encounter between sides in 16th and 17th position in the Premier League, there was predictably little flow or fluency to the game.
The opening goal, when it came in the 42nd minute, was fittingly ugly. Luke Shaw allowed Brennan Johnson to get in front of him, the ball spinning off the United defender and beyond the hapless Andre Onana.
Tottenham’s fans erupted in euphoria as Johnson wheeled away in celebration, United’s players left to rue another game in which they had conceded first – the 31st time this season.
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With Spurs content to sit back and protect their lead, the onus was on United to get back into the game. But they never at looked like fulfilling that remit. Amorim’s side continued to labour, the United boss cutting an increasingly frustrated and animated figure.
United looked to have levelled in the 68th minute when Hojlund sent a looping header goalwards with Guglielmo Vicario stranded, but Micky van de Ven produced a remarkable last-ditch clearance to hoof the ball off the line.
Amorim brought on Alejandro Garnacho and Joshua Zirkzee, the former forcing a save from Vicario in the 74th minute, the Spurs keeper saving again from Shaw in the 96th minute.
But it was ultimately too little, too late for United, as Spurs and Postecoglou held out to secure a deserved triumph.
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