One of the largest clubs in the world has reached the Europa League final. Furnished with one of the biggest budgets in the game, in a year when their transfer outlay exceeded £230m, they arguably started the Europa League as favourites, finished third in the group stage, and are the only unbeaten side in all three European competitions.
It makes it sound simple. Manchester United being Manchester United, it has not been. The 16th side in the Premier League face Spurs, the team in 17th, in the Bilbao showpiece. United were 21st in the Europa League when they sacked Erik ten Hag. They have had three managers on their route to the final, trailed to teams from Portugal, Norway, Czechia and France. Harry Maguire has a 91st-minute equaliser and a 121st-minute winner. They have left it late to secure victory against Viktoria Plzen and Rangers, even later to beat Lyon. They have flirted with ignominy time and again and stand on the brink of triumph.
They have contrived to be everything they are not in England: in Europe, they are a team who never lose and who can find a way to win – a prolific side. The bare facts are that United have 18 goals in their last five Europa League games, more than they have scored in their last four months in the Premier League. All that, when they contrived to omit their finest striking prospect, Chido Obi, from their European squad.
But then the dramatic finale against Lyon came courtesy of pseudo strikers: Kobbie Mainoo and Maguire, a midfielder and a defender thrown up front and, some might say, finishing better than the specialist forwards. That was just the second 5-4 victory in United’s history. The first was earned by the Busby Babes, in the final game on English soil in 1958. The second came courtesy of a rather lesser team.
But, while they have been mired in a historically bad domestic season, United have offered some of the right echoes of their past in Europe. The late goals, the comebacks, the drama that all contributed to the mystique of the club have been reserved for Thursday nights.
But the final, like their opener, is on a Wednesday. It was a false start against Ten Hag’s hometown club, FC Twente, at Old Trafford. “It’s not nice to have to hurt the ones you love,” the Dutchman said. Although, really, United were hurt more, in part by their own inadequacies after allowing Twente right back Bart van Rooij to run 50 yards, past a host of Ten Hag’s players, in the build-up to Sam Lammers’s equaliser.
When Ten Hag was dismissed, he had a 100 per cent record in the Europa League: three games, three draws. Should United beat Tottenham, Bruno Fernandes ought to be named the player of the tournament – so far, no one has more goals and only two players have more assists – but he had an inauspicious start, too, with a red card in his native Portugal against Porto. None of which fully explains why, when Ten Hag unveiled his replacement as a No 10 against Fenerbahce, it was a suitably surprised full back, Noussair Mazraoui.
So the caretaker Ruud van Nistelrooy oversaw United’s belated first win, against PAOK. Ruben Amorim’s record in this competition, at least, is excellent: eight wins out of 10, with creditable draws away against Real Sociedad and Lyon. It does not tell the whole story, though.
United scored in the first minute of his European bow, through Alejandro Garnacho against Bodo/Glimt, and yet found themselves losing. They were behind to Viktoria Plzen, too. They were rescued by back-to-back braces by Rasmus Hojlund who, like Christian Eriksen and Diogo Dalot, has more goals in the Europa League than the Premier League this season. Jack Butland, signed by United in 2023, scored for them, although as he is now the Rangers goalkeeper and punched a corner into his own net, it was an embarrassing mishap, rather than a cause for celebration.
The knockout stages have yielded a flurry of goals and celebrations in second legs at Old Trafford; a Fernandes hat-trick against Sociedad, a late treble of goals in seven minutes against Lyon, a burst of four in 19 against Athletic Bilbao.
There have been magical moments: Maguire’s sudden transformation into a twinkle-toed winger to set up Casemiro’s opener in the San Mames, Manuel Ugarte’s backheeled assist in Bilbao, Mason Mount’s fantastic 50-yard finish against Athletic. There was a dominant first 45 minutes at home to Lyon – as well as United have played under Amorim – and the control they exerted with a 3-0 lead in Bilbao.
There have, though, been elements of farce and fragility. Andre Onana went to Lyon branded one of the worst goalkeepers in United’s history by Nemanja Matic and blundered twice for goals. From 2-0 up and excelling in the second leg, United somehow found themselves 4-2 down at home to 10 men.
A recurring theme has been seeing opponents depleted. Both Sociedad and Athletic were unhappy with their red cards against United; some of Bilbao’s grievance lay in their belief that Garnacho had handled shortly before Dani Vivian fouled Hojlund to earn his marching orders.
It may indicate that fortune has favoured United. They can argue they earned their luck with indefatigability, moments of inspiration, and individuals delivering when it mattered – sometimes in improbable ways.
Mainoo and Maguire, like a 21st-century Teddy Sheringham and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, turned rescuers. They kept United’s season going when, in each round, it had been on the brink of ending with no silver lining, no saving grace. And now they are in Bilbao, in what is otherwise a disaster of a season, closing in on a return to the Champions League.
A biography of United’s first European Cup-winning manager, Sir Matt Busby, was called A Strange Kind Of Glory. And this would be a very strange kind of European glory.