A Brennan Johnson first half goal earned Tottenham Hotspur a 1-0 win against Manchester United in the Europa League final at the San Mames on Wednesday.
The win means Spurs have now qualified for next season’s UEFA Champions League, while for the first time since the 2014-15 season United will not play European football next term.
The North London outfit landed a first major trophy winning the League Cup in 2008, when they beat Chelsea 2-1 in the final.
Also, they have now secured their third Europa League title after winning in the 1971/1982 and 1983/1984 seasons.
Heading into the final inside the Athletic Bilbao stadium, United had lost three times to Spurs this season.
It was a match between teams languishing in 16th and 17th place respectively after dismal Premier League campaigns.
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Harry Maguire blocked well from Tottenham’s Pape Sarr early on after Johnson nipped in ahead of Luke Shaw to break in down the right.
At the other end, United winger Amad Diallo, flashed a shot across goal and then left Destiny Udogie spinning, trying in vain to find him as he dribbled past.
Spurs made the breakthrough after 42 minutes as Sarr, who had completed just a single pass to this point, curled in a cross to the near post for Johnson.
The winger’s attempted flick bounced off Shaw’s shoulder, brushed Johnson’s boot again and crossed the goal-line with Andre Onana unable to claw it out with a desperate arm.
Spurs sat back in the second half, trying to protect their slender advantage and look for opportunities to strike again on the counter-attack.
They nearly found one when Yves Bissouma played in Dominic Solanke, but the striker could not control the pass and the chance went to waste.
The Red Devils almost equalised when Tottenham goalkeeper Guglielmo Vicario came off his line but failed to claim a set-piece pounded forward from deep.
The ball dropped for Rasmus Hojlund but his header over the stranded Spurs stopper was sensationally cleared in acrobatic fashion by Micky van de Ven.
Spurs sent on captain Son Heung-min for Richarlison, with the South Korean international a surprising non-starter.
Ruben Amorim turned to Alejandro Garnacho and Joshua Zirkzee to try and dig them out of their hole.
Shaw had a chance to redeem himself at the end for his part in Johnson’s goal but his header was pushed to safety by Spurs keeper Vicario.
AFP
