Manchester United and Tottenham will dismantle it on Wednesday in the Europa League final in Bilbao, where both parties are desperately looking for salvation of gloomy Premier League campaigns via silverware and a gold ticket in the Champions League of next season.
A potential honey pot of £ 100 million ($ 133 million) for reaching Europe's top competition is at stake in the San Mames Stadium between two sides at the bottom of the English top flight.
The Red Devils of Ruben Amorim are 16th and with 18 defeats of the competition their worst top flight campaign in half a century, since their 1974 relegation.
One place Lower Lie Ange Postecoglou's Spurs, has taken a club record 21 times in the competition and on course for their worst season since they returned to the top layer in 1978.
With both teams fixed on Europe, their dive to the lower echelons of the table has only been accelerated in recent weeks.
United is Winless in eight league matches, their worst run in the Premier League history, which falls in Chelsea on Friday in their last outing for the final.
Tottenham also fell to beat in Aston Villa for their fifth loss in six league games.
Spurs are twice winners of this competition, but their victory in 1984 was the last European trophy of the club and they have not won silverware for 17 years.
They reached a Maiden Champions League final in 2019, but were short of another all-English battle in Spain and lost against Liverpool in a boring match.
“If you look at the historical background of this club for the past 20 years, I will feel (this final) a turning point,” Postecoglou said last week.
Despite the gradual decline of United since the legendary former manager Alex Ferguson retired in 2013, they won the FA Cup and League Cup in the past two seasons among Amorim's predecessor Erik ten Hag.
The Portuguese have passed a scorching time since taking the lead in November and won only six of his 26 Premier League matches.
But the Europa League has been a different story, because United Real Sociedad and Athletic Bilbao has beaten, both sides of a famous 6-4 fighting back to beat Lyon 7-6 in the quarterfinals that led to memories of the dramatic Champions League Final Victory of the club.
However, Amorim is aware of the scale of the task with which he is confronted to turn the 20-way English champions.
“I'm not worried about the final, it's by far the smallest problem in our club,” said the former Sporting Lisbon boss.
“We have to change something that is deeper than this.”
Four in a row?
Tottenham was once seen as not many problems for an all -conquering association.
Former United Great Roy Keane revealed that the Ferguson team conversation was limited to a rejecting “boys, they are traces”.
This season, De London Side has won all three meetings, twice in the Premier League and in the League Cup, with Postecoglou undefeated in five games at the helm against United.
“If you think about the opportunities, it's hard for the club to lose four times in a row,” said Amorim.
With players such as Bruno Fernandes and Casemiro, United has both experience and quality at their disposal.
“They know how to win trophies, Tottenham not,” said former United -midfielder Paul Scholes, who played next to Keane.
Despite the diabolical domestic form of the team, the Portuguese coach is expected to remain strengthened by the exciting undefeated increase in the Europa League final.
The same cannot be said for Postecoglou. The Australian will almost certainly leave if he does not live up to his promise to win a trophy in his second season.
Spurs' bad luck with injuries this season will continue with midfielders James Maddison, Lucas Bergvall and Dejan Kulusevski who are all missing for the final, but Captain Son Heung-Min is Fit again.
They survived an arctic journey in the semi -final at Bodo/Glimt, but Postecoglou can still be frozen even if his team triumphs.
“(If we win), it will make many people upset, right?” said the Australian.
“What does it matter if we are struggling in the competition … I'm looking forward to it and it should be a great game.”