The beef between Harry Maguire and Cristian Romero did not end at the final whistle, and the Man United man was not happy when the Argentine came over to express his commiserations to his opponents after the final whistle at Bilbao.
Ahead of the game, there was a lot said about Spurs’ mentality, with many pundits suggesting that Man United had more winners in their side than Tottenham did.
However, Spurs boasted one player in their ranks who has stepped up with big performances in major finals time and again, and he did the same in Bilbao.
Cristian Romero was deemed the Man of the Match in the final and the Europa League Player of the Season, with the Argentine proving once again that he is a man for the big moment.
Harry Maguire reacts angrily to Cristian Romero’s friendly gesture
Cristian Romero, who started the game as Tottenham captain since Heung-min Son was on the bench, not only marshalled the Spurs backline brilliantly, but he also successfully managed to get in the head of his opponents.
The Tottenham centre-back was given the difficult task of marking Harry Maguire during Man United’s set-pieces, and he never let the England international get any joy in the box.
Romero was also involved in a war of words with the former Hull City man throughout the game, leaving him rattled on a few occasions.
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When the Spurs man went over to Maguire and the other United players to shake their hands after the final whistle, the United defender was not in a mood to make amends, angrily pushing his opposite number away.
Watch his reaction below:
Romero showed a nasty streak Tottenham have been missing
Spurs have had better teams than this one over the last two decades, but those sides arguably lacked the kind of characters that would get under the skin of their opponents and wind them up.
That was identified and called out by Jose Mourinho, who referred to the Spurs side as a team of good guys who struggle to win ugly.