Deployed in central midfield rather than a more unfamiliar No 10 role, the playmaker failed to make his mark in Bilbao

Wanted desperately: a system that allows Manchester United to create a cornucopia of chances, plus a Bruno Fernandes who does not go missing precisely when this one-man Ruben Amorim outfit needs him - in a major European final.

Cumbersome, toothless and lacking flair: this has been Amorim’s 3-4-3 formation since he took over in early November, and was Fernandes on Wednesday night, alongside the (again) impotent Rasmus Højlund, plus the anonymous Mason Mount, Amad Diallo and too many others in United colours.

Ange Postecoglou moved away from his attacking style while Brennan Johnson earned the sweetest vindication

Finals are not for the playing; they’re for the winning. Who cares about the spectacle? Who cares about the quality? At some level football is always more about the narrative and the drama than technical mastery. Tottenham certainly will cheerily ignore what a shambolic game of football this was as they bask in their first trophy since 2008, their first in European competition in 40 years. Glory comes in many forms, and just because this might not be how Danny Blanchflower sanctioned it, does not mean this was not, in its own way, glorious.

But it was a baffling game. For the third round in a row, Tottenham prevailed with a sort of ultra pragmatism. Ange Postecoglou always wins a trophy in his second season, a fact of which he has delighted in reminding everybody. It just seems odd that it took him that long to move away from his characteristic attacking, high-pressing style to a blueprint José Mourinho might have left behind in a drawer. Ange stared into the Barclays, but the Barclays stared back far harder into him.

Romero and Van de Ven were rocks at the back for Spurs, while Højlund never looked like scoring for United

4-2-3-1

For Ange Postecoglou and Tottenham, there was only one story, one mission. It was not about what happens next with the manager; that can wait. It was about grasping an opportunity that does not come around very often, about emerging from what has felt like a generation’s worth of jibes; about winning.

On a golden night for their longsuffering followers, they chased the baggage from their backs, they changed the narrative. Yet again, Postecoglou won in his second season at a club. For the first time since 2008, Spurs got their hands on a trophy.

• Europa League updates from Bilbao; kick-off 8pm BST
• Read today’s edition of Football Daily | And email Scott

The clubs have faced each other many times back home, naturally. Manchester United have the upper hand here as well, with 95 wins to Tottenham’s 57 (and 52 draws). But while the overall history skews red, the recent stuff is pure lilywhite. Spurs are unbeaten against United in the last six, wining four and drawing two. They’ve won all three of their previous meetings this season, the high-point being the 3-0 rout at Old Trafford last September.

Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester United have met each other in Europe before. A long time ago. In December 1963, Spurs were the holders of the Cup Winners’ Cup, United the most recent FA Cup winners. They were drawn in the second round of the Cup Winners’ Cup, and Spurs won the first leg at White Hart Lane thanks to a Dave Mackay piledriver and Terry Dyson taking late opportunistic advantage of a careless Tony Dunne backpass.

While the top and bottom of the Premier League are resolved, European spots are very much up for grabs

Intrigue on the final day of the Premier League season is concentrated solely on who qualifies for Europe, but there is plenty of it. Seven clubs will enter the last round of matches unsure of which European competition they will be playing in next season, or in some cases whether they will be playing in Europe at all, with half of the division potentially competing in Uefa tournaments in 2025-26. Here is what is at stake on Sunday …

Manager’s emotional intelligence needed for painful therapy process regardless of Europa League final result

“It will change my life; it will not change me,” Ruben Amorim told the BBC not long after becoming Manchester United manager, his underpinning sentiment – that self-worth comes from within – a cornerstone of therapeutic thinking. Sure enough, as the interview continued, he unabashedly raised his own therapy, in the process showing disarming candour, a man supremely comfortable in his own head.

Effective treatment requires going backwards to go forwards and it is easy to chortle that under Amorim, United have done just that. As they prepare for a final we could characterise as two bald men fighting over a wig, there may be a very specific regression taking place: back to good old 1990, when United finished 13th in the league and then beat an even worse team to win a cup, changing everything in the process.

The struggles of Tottenham and Manchester United in the league leave this game meaning nothing and everything

Gatwick on Tuesday morning was full of Spurs fans. They were in the Pret a Manger, they were in the Pizza Express, they were in the Wagamama, but mostly they were standing gawping at the destination board, which featured a baffling number of Vueling flights to Bilbao, a squeezing of the schedule that led to inevitable delays and confusion.

The queue for the three open booths at passport control in Bilbao was a vast python of white shirts, speckled with the occasional tree green or purple. The bus into town was almost entirely Spurs, with a handful of businessmen and a bewildered older couple returning from their holidays, who admitted they had no idea their city was hosting a major European final.

• ‘People see I’m thinking more about the club’
• Striker Rasmus Højlund may start on bench

Ruben Amorim has admitted it is strange he is not in danger of the sack as Manchester United head coach while Ange Postecoglou is even if he leads Tottenham to the Europa League trophy in Wednesday’s final.

United face Spurs at Bilbao’s San Mamés Stadium with each having had a similarly dismal Premier League campaign. With one game left, United are in 16th on 39 points with a goal difference of -12, while Spurs are in 17th on 38 with a goal difference of 2. The Australian’s position at Tottenham is under scrutiny, with there being a strong sense that he will lose his role even if his side emerge victorious on Wednesday. Postecoglou fielded questions about this on Tuesday. Amorim was then asked why he is not under the same pressure.

As Manchester United, Tottenham and Chelsea prepare for huge games, how well do you remember previous finals?

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With more than 80,000 English football fans expected to descend on Bilbao for the Bigger Vase final, it’s safe to assume that approximately half of them will return home in despair, while almost all of them will be seriously out of pocket. But despite its status as a fine location with a proud football heritage, Bilbao doesn’t have the infrastructure to cope with the myriad demands that come with hosting a game between the 16th and 17th best teams in England. With “budget” flights costing well north of a grand and even the most low-rent accommodation priced up at £500-plus a night, one can but hope for the sake of those Spurs and Manchester United fans who use plane, train, automobile or boat to arrive in northern Spain for this season-defining match that Bilbao has no shortage of doorways and park benches. Expect plenty to be occupied on Tuesday evening by green-around-the-gills landlubbers who set off on Sunday evening’s Portsmouth ferry, a vessel which docked in Bilbao earlier.

A very beautiful career is coming to an end, a very full life. I feel very fortunate for what I’ve experienced. I didn’t expect it, but I think the time has come and I feel like bringing it to a close here” – former Barcelona, Liverpool and Spain vibes-man, Pepe Reina, is hanging up his gloves aged 7842 after Como’s final game of the season on Friday. He might have a busy last day at the office given Inter will be desperately fighting for the title. Look out for any loose beachballs, Pepe!

Trust the Germans to have a word to describe every situation or feeling. Liverpool’s current performance (or lack of) can be defined as Erfüllungsleere” – Krishna Moorthy.

Given this appears to be the year of the underdog in cup finals, Tottenham and Manchester United must be really optimistic” – Martyn Shapter.

Re: Memory Lane (yesterday’s Football Daily, full email edition) – that mascot got a bit more than they bargained for” – Jim Hearson.

I’d question the wisdom of publishing both of Michael Glogower’s pun-laden Eredivisie missives in recent letters sections. Remember, two De Jongs don’t make a right …” – Derek McGee.

• Predictions of 80,000 fans in city ‘not unreasonable’
• Uefa warns fans second-hand tickets will not be accepted

The head of English football policing, chief constable Mark Roberts, has urged Tottenham and Manchester United fans not to travel to Bilbao if they do not have a ticket for the Europa League final on Wednesday.

Tens of thousands of ticketless fans are expected in the city and Roberts says Uefa, local organisers and police share a “real desire” to make the event work for supporters after the chaos of recent Champions League finals in Paris and Istanbul.

• Ivorian expected to start in Europa League final
• ‘I need the game time to show I can play for this club’

Amad Diallo has revealed how his frustration under Erik ten Hag as he fought to become established at Manchester United spilled over in October’s Europa League draw at Fenerbahce.

Diallo was signed from Atalanta in January 2021 by Ole Gunnar Solskjær. He made eight appearances that season then was loaned to Rangers in January 2022 for the rest of the term and Sunderland for all of the 2022-23 campaign, being voted the PFA Championship fans’ player of the year.

With Ineos busy at Manchester United, Nice finished fourth in Ligue 1 and set up their first European Cup run in 65 years

By Get French Football News

“He hasn’t seen a Nice match this season,” retorted Nice manager Franck Haise to denigrating comments from the club’s own owner Jim Ratcliffe. Had the Manchester United shareholder watched Nice this season, he would have seen a team that has instilled principles and structures that have thus far failed to take hold at Old Trafford – and a side not reliant on a one-game shootout to secure their place in next season’s Champions League.

When Manchester United and Nice both qualified for the Europa League this season, Uefa stipulated that no one involved in one club’s management, administration or sporting performance could have a decisive influence in the other club. Ineos concentrated on Manchester United and left Nice to their own devices. It has worked out well for the French club.

Eberechi Eze is too good for Palace, Morgan Gibbs-White is pushing for a call-up and is 2025 the year of the underdog?

Why would your fan-favourite player, scorer of That Historic Wembley Goal, in peak form under an excellent manager want to leave? Why would anyone be OK with it? How is this logical? Crystal Palace are now good enough to have Eberechi Eze in the team. Eberechi Eze is also too good to stay at Crystal Palace. Both of these things seem to be true. Oliver Glasner-era Palace are a seriously potent, organised and attractive team. But Eze’s progress is something else. At times during his early Palace career there was a sense of a slightly loose late-developer. His skill level was always exceptional. His use of it now is next-level, his finishing cold and his physique buffed up. Eze does not really have a ceiling. He could play for any team in Europe. But he is also 26 years old with two years left on his contract, and Palace have a model based on development with the likes of Romain Esse ready for a shot. There does not always have to be downside. Selling the man who made the thing happen can still be best for everyone. Barney Ronay

• Moroccan has career-best 55 appearances this season
• Believes Europa League ‘fighting spirit’ absent in league

Noussair Mazraoui has revealed that cutting out fizzy drinks has helped him to make 55 Manchester United appearances this season, the most of the defender’s eight-year career. Mazraoui’s 48 games for Ajax in 2018-19 constituted his previous highest number. With two matches left he could end on 57 and the 27-year-old explained why.

“I’m not drinking any sodas any more – fizzy drinks,” he said. “It changes a lot because of the sugar; you don’t get it in your body any more. So just water makes a huge difference eventually. It was just to try to see if there’s any difference. I know sugar is really bad for your body but it’s really nice to have a little drink of it with dinner.”

Wednesday’s all-English Europa League final in Bilbao is a huge game that shows football still has a sense of humour

The best thing about football is what a silly, mercurial game it is. You can have all the money or political clout in the world. You can put in place meticulously thought-out projects. You can think and prepare and invest and plan, and football will still spit out a Europa League final between Tottenham and Manchester United. Strategise that.

Thousands will travel to Bilbao without tickets, many will end up sleeping rough, the phone network may collapse. It will be chaotic and anarchic and at its heart will be a game between two teams desperate for victory, whose presence in the final is utterly bewildering. And in that bonkersness may lie brilliance.

Chelsea’s head coach admits first season ‘not perfect’ while Manchester United’s Marc Skinner wants ‘something special’ from defending champions

After 465 matches and 2,445 goals, a record 514 clubs have been whittled down to two. On Sunday Manchester United and Chelsea will face each other in the Women’s FA Cup final for a second time.

Chelsea won 1-0 in 2023 to deny United in what was their maiden FA Cup final appearance, something Marc Skinner’s side avenged last season by beating the Blues in the semi-finals to limit Emma Hayes’ final season trophy haul to one. United went on to beat Tottenham 4-0 in the final to secure their first major trophy following promotion from the Championship. Now they have a chance to demonstrate exactly how far they have come, as they bid to retain their crown against a domestically unbeaten Chelsea looking to land a treble.

In a cacophony of jubilant celebration, the sense of relief inside Stamford Bridge was overwhelming.

Just as Chelsea feared their Champions League dreams fading away, Marc Cucurella nodded the biggest goal of their season and a firecracker in west London ignited. So infectious was the joy that one home supporter even charged on to the pitch before the match was done. Call his solo pitch invasion passion or stupidity; it was just that kind of feeling.

• Updates from Stamford Bridge; kick-off 8.15pm BST
• Aston Villa v Tottenham – live with Yara El-Shaboury
• Live scores | Table | And read today’s Football Daily

“‘We will retain Amorim even if we do not win the Big Vase’ (more alarming when they play Spurs) is not a statement that boosts someone’s confidence, does it?” says Krishnamoorthy V. “What must one old Scot be thinking these days? Should he come back for an encore?”

He’s probably thinking: ‘You think this lot are bad, you should have seen my team in 1989-90.’ I can’t get away from the fact that, had modern values prevailed in the late 1980s, Alex Ferguson would have won precisely no trophies at Manchester United, and he’d probably still be plain old Alex Ferguson. We’ve all gone mad. I went mad in 2006 so I can’t really criticise anyone.