Two teams that are placed on the 16th and 17th in the Premier League that encounters each other in May is not a meeting that often arouses a lot of interest.
But the Europa League final on Wednesday in the iconic San Mames Stadium of Athletic Bilbao has gained extraordinary importance for both Tottenham and Manchester United.
After a trophy of any nature whatsoever since Juande Ramos supervised their victory over Chelsea in the EFL Cup final of 2008, Spurs are desperately looking for silverware.
Ange Postecoglou has cut a tricky figure for a large part of the season, and his future remains far from certain, but the end of Tottenham's drought would make it worthwhile for the Australian, who told reporters in September: “I always win things in my second year”.
Ruben Amorim has been less bullish and describes his united team as the worst side in the legendary history of the club.
Wednesday's victors will seal the qualification of the Champions League for 2025-26, giving the financial rewards Amorim the chance to turbo-boost's united rebuild.
The losers will be left to undergo the uncomfortable reality of the fact that they have endured their worst campaign in modern history.
Here we dive into the best Opta insights prior to the Europa League final.
What is expected?
This will be the sixth full-English final in the history of UEFA Club competitions, in which no other country offers so much final between two of their clubs (Italy and Spain have had five each).
It will be the third of them to involve Tottenham, who defeated Wolves 3-2 on an aggregate in the UEFA Cup final of 1972 and lost 2-0 to Liverpool in the 2019 Champions League pronkpiece.
And since the rebrand of the Europa League 2009, this is the fourth final that is disputed between two sides from the same nation, after 2011 (Porto 1-0 Braga), 2012 (Atletico Madrid 3-0 athletic) and 2019 (Chelsea 4-1 Arsenaal).
Tottenham has so far won all three of their meetings with United in all matches this season; Twice in the Premier League (3-0 away, 1-0 at home) and once in the EFL cup (4-3 at home).
The only opponent Spurs has ever won four games in a single campaign were Manchester City in 1992-93, while the only side that defeated the Red Devils four times in one season in 1985-86 Everton.
United is also Winless in their last six meetings with Tottenham in all competitions (two draws, four defeats). The Red Devils have never gone seven without a victory against Spurs.
A more positive omen could, however, that the teams met each other once before in the large European competition, in the Cup Winners' Cup of 1963-64 last 16. United progressed 4-3 on aggregated over two legs under Matt Busby.
Many expect a close-run final, and the Opta-Supercomputer cannot split the teams.
Both Spurs and United indeed lift the trophy in 50% of the simulations for the match per piece.
Spurs win in 90 minutes in 37.5% of the scenarios, where United does this in 35.2% and the remaining 27.3% goes to extra time, and possibly fines.
Despite the poor form of competition of both teams, an end-to-end final could be on the maps.
Only athletics (30) have had more shots after high turnover than both United (23) and Tottenham (22) in the Europa League of this season, and the Red Devils are also TOP in the 2024-25 tournament for direct attacks (32, level with Lyon).
Can traces end their long wait?
By the time that Wednesday walks around, it will have been 17 years and 86 days since Spurs last got hold of silverware by winning the EFL Cup. Their last major European title was now supplied by manager Keith Burkinshaw in the UEFA Cup 1983-84, 40 years and 363 days ago.
The victory here would only make them the second English club that won the UEFA Cup/Europa League three times after Liverpool. In the meantime, only Sevilla (seven) has won it more than three times.
However, they will have to overcome a large number of injury problems if they want to end their long wait for glory, after they have lost creative midfielders Dejan Kulusevski, James Maddison and Lucas Bergvall.
Kulusevski (11) and Maddison (10) are two of the three Spurs players in double digits for assists in all competitions this season, together with son Heung-Min (11).
Spurs in Bilbao 🇪🇸 pic.twitter.com/b7juc0u17i
– Tottenham Hotspur (@spursofficial) 19 May 2025
Son has at least given Postecoglou a boost after he has made his first start since he recovered from a foot injury in Friday's 2-0 defeat against Aston Villa.
The Zuid -Korea International has 11 goals in all competitions this campaign, with only Brennan Johnson (17), Dominic Solanke (15) and Maddison (12) more often for traces.
Much of the focus in the structure of this final was on Postecoglou, the first Australian manager to reach a major European final.
The last time a new nation had reached a manager for the first time a major European final was when the Norwegian Ole Gunnar Solskjaer lost the final of 2021 Europa League with United, versus Villarreal.
But if Postecoglou is a chance to keep his job to the next season, then a victory is certainly required.
Amorim's chance of early glory
United did not win in eight league matches and, just like Spurs, cannot end higher than 14th in the Premier League.
In contrast to their boring form of competition, United has an exciting route to the final, with their amazing 7-6 aggregated victory over Lyon in the quarterfinals a certain highlight.
The Red Devils have scored 35 goals (where one of them is their own goal) in the Europa League of this season; The only party that scored more in a single UEFA Cup/Europa League campaign are Borussia Monchengladbach in 1972-73 (36), Porto in 2010-11 (37) and Chelsea in 2018-19 (36) -Thet the last duo won the trophy.
United also remains the only unbeaten side in large European competitions this season, won nine and attracts five of their 14 Europa League matches.
Head coach Amorim has repeatedly said that the lifting of the trophy will not solve the long -term issues of United, but he may need the honor that a victory would give him, with only 0.92 points per match in the Premier League since taking the lead.
Amorim could only become the third manager who won a large trophy in his first season responsible for United, after Jose Mourinho in 2016-17 (EFL Cup and Europa League) and Erik ten Hag in 2022-23 (EFL Cup).
He could also only be the third coach who won a major European title with an English club while he was 40 or younger, after Howard Kendall (Cup winners Cup 1984-85 with Everton, 38) and Gianluca Vialli (1997-98 Cup winners Cup with Chelsea, 33).
This will be the ninth major European final of United, with only Liverpool (15) that achieves more under English clubs.
However, they did not succeed in winning three of their last four of such finals in the champion competitions of 2008-09 and 2010-11 in the 2020-21 Europa League in 2020-21 and won the other 2-0 against Ajax in the Europa League 2016-17.
Players to watch
Tottenham – Dominic Solanke
Many of the best moments of Solanke came in this competition, with the former Bournemouth ahead scored in the quarterfinals against Eintracht Frankfurt and in both legs of their semi -final against Bodo/Glimt.
Solanke has also scored in each of his last four games against United in all competitions (five goals).
Since Alex Ferguson left the Red Devils in 2013, only one player has scored in five or more consecutive performances against them, with Mohamed Salah doing this in six from January 2021 to March 2023.
Manchester United – Bruno Fernandes
If United wants to triumph, it will certainly be up to Bruno Fernandes to inspire them.
The United Captain has the most total goal statements of every player in the history of the Europa League, with 46, and his 19 assists are also a competition height.
This season only Lyon's Rayan Cherki (12) has been involved in more Europa League goals than Fernandes (seven goals, four assists). The only player who was more involved for an English club in a single campaign in the competition was Olivier Giroud for Chelsea in 2018-19 (11 goals, four assists).