Tottenham end trophy drought in Europa League final as Ruben Amorim admits Man United sack is possible - reaction
Tottenham 1-0 Man United: A scrappy first-half goal was enough for Spurs to salvage a dire season with a first trophy since 2008
Tottenham Hotspur salvaged their season and delivered vindication for Ange Postecoglou as they defeated Manchester United 1-0 in a dismal Europa League final in Bilbao to claim a first trophy in 17 years.
United and Spurs showed exactly why they lie 16th and 17th in the Premier League table as they produced a low-quality affair and the only goal of the game reflected that perfectly. Just before the break, a combination of Brennan Johnson and Luke Shaw contrived to bundle the ball into the corner of the net.
Spurs required a spectacular goal-line clearance from defender Micky van de Ven as they defended doggedly in the second half, with the result delighting boss Postecoglou who said he always believed Tottenham would live up to his claim of “always winning a trophy in his second season”.
United, meanwhile, face a difficult rebuild with no Champions League football to finances their summer transfer plans. Ruben Amorim admitted afterwards that he would not ask for compensation if United decide to go in a different direction, but he vowed not to quit despite United’s worst season in 50 years.
Relive all the Europa League final action, including updates from our Chief Football Writer Miguel Delaney, with our live blog below:
Man United have gone backwards under Ruben Amorim and there’s only one way out
While Ruben Amorim was talking about staying but staring at the floor, Luke Shaw looked like he was going to let it all out. The left-back, who was inadvertently responsible for the Europa League final's decisive own goal, seemed on the brink of tears. Sir Jim Ratcliffe was understood to be “heartbroken". There was a “numbness” inside Manchester United.
After all the talk of what the Europa League to the club meant financially, you could now see the true emotional cost. United figures felt humiliated, fully aware this was going to be a fall-out like no other in football.
Amorim, for his part, didn’t want to do the supporters the disservice of defending the season; of going through the motions of insisting it will be better.
Man United have gone backwards under Ruben Amorim and there’s only one way out
Ruben Amorim will not ask for compensation if sacked by Man United
Ruben Amorim said he would not ask for any compensation if Manchester United to decide to sack him following the Europa League final defeat to Tottenham.
When asked if United had to take responsibility for a “failure” of a season, Amorim said he was well aware of how far the club has fallen this year.
“In this moment, I’m not going to be here defending myself,” Amorim said in a news conference. “It’s not my style, I cannot do it. It’s really hard for me.
“I have nothing to show to the fans to say, I am going to improve because of this, I will not do that. In this moment, it is faith. Let’s see.
“I’m always open, if the board and the fans feel I am not the right guy I will go in the next day without any conversation of compensation.
“But I will not quit. Again, I am confident about my job. As you can see I will not change nothing in the way I do things.”
Ruben Amorim will not ask for compensation if sacked by Man United
Ange Postecoglou always ‘believed’ Tottenham would win trophy in second season
Ange Postecoglou wants to build on Tottenham’s Europa League triumph and said he always believed that the club could win a trophy this season.
Spurs’ victory in Bilbao delivered a first trophy in 17 years and saw Postecoglou live up to his words of “always winning in his second season”.
“I think people misinterpreted it. I wasn’t me boasting,” he told TNT Sports. “It was me making a declaration. I had this thing in me: I know that our league form has been unacceptable but us finishing third was not going to change this football club. The only thing that was going to change this football club was winning something.
“When I said that, that was my intent. I’m not afraid to declare it and if I fell short I was happy to cop it, but I believed in it. I couldn’t expect anyone from the club to say that. But I can say that. I was prepared to wear it. People kept reminding me of it. I was comfortable with it.”
Ange Postecoglou always ‘believed’ Tottenham would win trophy in second season
Tottenham silence the noise with Europa League triumph and leave Man Utd facing bleak future
Ange Postecoglou dared to say it, and his players have gone and done it. The Greek-Australian has won a trophy in his second season, and Tottenham Hotspur’s first in 17 years.
The Europa League has often been discussed in terms of what it means regarding everything else in football but, for Spurs, it is suitably about glory. This is their moment, this scrappy 1-0 win over Manchester United was deserved.
That means it might also be another even longer period of pain for Ruben Amorim – if he remains at the club for that long. The promise and hope of United’s season is gone, and all because Postecoglou lived up to his own promise. United now have so many more questions, from what they do with transfers to – most pertinently – what the manager is doing with this system.
United, put bluntly, remain so much less than the sum of their parts. While they are left reeling at the worst campaign in their modern history, Spurs can forget all of that.
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