A story about two approaches is how best to describe the preparations for Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur for this week's Europa League final.
Spurs have wrapped their star metaphorically in cotton wool and sat for weeks. Spurs has given every full -time employee a free ticket for the final. Spurs flew to Bilbao on Monday afternoon and trained in San Mames on Tuesday. Ruben Amorim and Manchester United have done nothing of the above.
Even with the effort as high as they are – more about that – the feeling in Manchester United, there is one of relative peace, even after a historically bad domestic season where they are 16th in the Premier League.
The decision of Amorim and his coaches was not to deviate too much from the normal routine and so United will refine their preparations on their Carrington training basis away from curious eyes on Tuesday morning.
United has always held their UEFA-Mandated Open Training Session on their own turf through this unbeaten European campaign and there was never a chance that they will change that now. Erik ten Hag, Amorim's predecessor, always preferred the privacy of training at home instead of abroad when he was also in charge.
It means that the United players are not again displayed with San Mames, a stadium where they were recently won 3-0 in the semi-final, until they undertake a stadium walk on Tuesday evening.
The preference of UEFA is that both teams train in San Mames and so the midfield was sought with United to have all players present on Tuesday evening for the stadium walk for Amorim and two players, one of which is almost certainly Bruno Fernandes, confronted with a press conference. A team time follows the media requirements on San Mames on Tuesday evening.
There is also fame in the Paul Smith suits United Wear for major finals. Players have been mounted in recent days for those in recent days and will have the navy blue suits in the run -up to the last local time from 9 p.m. on Wednesday.
United has been working with Paul Smith since 2008 and it has become common to work together for the most important final. They adjusted players when they won this competition in 2017 and when they also lost it in 2021.
If you stay at home for as long as possible, those players can also push to be fit for the last extra chance to recover in a well -known setting.
Diogo Dalot and Leny Yoro are among the players who have assigned individual coaches and gym programs away from the main group to try to repair on time to Tottenham on Wednesday. Matthijs de Ligt is another that is with an outer shot.
Dalot had played in every Europa League match prior to the semi-final, while Yoro missed only one match during the knockout phase. Both remain touch and are expected on Wednesday with late fitness calls.
One of the frustrations in the structure – which has been a handful – has been the inability to choose their own team hotel.
United stayed in the five -star Melia Hotel, near the Guggenheim Museum, prior to their semi -final first leg versus Athletic Club and thought it was an ideal basis that met each of their needs.
But UEFA dictates where finalists remain and so United has had no input at all where players will live in the run -up to the final.
This time around United, three hotels with some staff who return to the Melia, players in the Hotel designated by UEFA and some extra staff in a base outside Bilbao.
In 2012, players and coaching staff explored the city on foot for a morning walk in 2012 during the first visit to Bilbao.
Due to an 'English invasion' by fans, with 2,000 police officers to combat the reported inflow of 80,000 British, this time it is not planned by club officials.
While Tottenham will participate in the tribute to Pichichi, to place flowers on his bust at San Mames, United did this in 2012 and they would like to minimize extracurricular activities.
Another frustration has been in the dressing room on the number of free tickets (two) that the club gave them to them before the game.
Players each assigned two tickets, along with chairs on a charter flight to Spain that lands in Santander on the morning of the game.
Guests of players also have day access to food and drinks in a meeting room in the Hotel Hotel as part of a withheld structure that guests keeps completely separate from the team all day on Wednesday.
Amorim's players had the option to buy more UEFA tickets at nominal value – priced from £ 200 to £ 55 – but they are responsible for paying for the extra flights and hotel rooms, since Ineos is kept to a minimum costs.
Amorim, relieving the decision for support staff not to receive any free ticket, put his hand in his pocket to cover the costs for 30 of his back room team to take family members.
Mail Sport understands that players were ready to step in to cover those costs if Amorim had not come there first.
All or nothing
What is clear in the corridors of Old Trafford and on the pitches in Carrington is that there is a real level of seriousness in the preparations.
Although there is currently a positive spirit among players, sources have spoken about the leadership of figures such as Casemiro.
The Brazilian has won all 19 of his career final and although he is personal in his own way, he is 'serious' and has been a real standard for the standards that Amorim has trusted, especially in Europe.
Amorim has prepared in a series of young people who have not made a first team debut to freshen up the training group in the days prior to Chelsea, including Jim Thwaites, James Overy and Sekou Kone.
But much of the emphasis has been placed on players who have previously been in the big semi -final and finals with a large part of the responsibility in the dressing room that fell on Harry Maguire and Luke Shaw, who both played in a big final for England, as well as Noussair Mazraoui and Casemiro.
The emphasis is also on playing players in sharpness and shape, instead of following the Tottenham approach to be wrapped in cotton.
“They will play because it is sometimes better to play,” Amorim explained earlier this month.
“They have to play. It is better to play than to stay outside. '
One thing that Amorim doesn't get big, his motivating videos or dressed up the opportunity outside the game itself.
Amorim is painfully honest with his players and that has won respect in the dressing room in the midst of a turbulent and to be honestly terrible.
He is a meticulous thinker and planner. During his study years when he tried to become a manager, he had a seminar with Jose Mourinho, where Mourinho dissected his tactic for the Europa League final, the last time Manchester United won this competition.
He knows everything you should know about the previous European final of United and everything that went well and went wrong.
And if everything goes to the plan and United comes out as a victor, there will be Gedempte Fanfare. No bus parade, unlike Tottenham, and instead the players are expected to enjoy a private barbecue with their families and other staff during the tight turning point when they win.
Here comes the money
Then there is the financial side – for players and the club.
On the player's side, if they need further motivation, then already painful, most are a wage increase in the region of 25 percent if they secure the Champions League football.
Those wage increases are contractual as United Dining on the top table in Europe – far from a given nowadays – and so the will of Casemiro and Fernandes are in line for considerable ways if they can get this poorly underperforming side over the line.
It is unlikely that there is a shared excitement of those wage increases with Sir Jim Ratcliffe and Ineos, please note.
A 16th placed finish in the competition, when it ends like this after Sunday's game against Aston Villa, the club deserves only £ 14 million from the Premier League. If they win the Europa League, add £ 10.95 million from UEFA. A total of the expected £ 30 million will cost it to cover the team's wage bonuses.
But what the Champions League does for Manchester United is a pool of money opened that gives them much more flexibility in a transfer window that is not worth thinking about without getting away how far they are from competing with the 'Big Six'.
Amorim insists that winning the Europa League will not save the Manchester United season, but he is wrong.
The victory in Bilbao on Wednesday is by far one of the most unique important games in his entire career. He just has to win.