Daily Mail

Paul Scholes believes Tottenham Hotspur will be considered the favourites going into the Europa League final, but still expects Manchester United to come out on top.

Spurs have beaten United three times this season, including a 3-0 win at Old Trafford in the Premier League in September and a dramatic 4–3 home triumph in the Carabao Cup in December.

In fact, United have not beaten Spurs in any of their last six meetings, but Scholes is banking on European experience to make the difference in Bilbao.

Writing in his TNT Sports column, the former England midfielder said: 'When you look at the recent matches between the two teams, then you'll probably have to make Tottenham the slight favourites.

'But Manchester United are used to being in finals. Even in recent bad periods, they're still reaching finals and winning trophies and I think that experience is big.'

Despite his backing for United, Scholes admitted he enjoys watching Ange Postecoglou's Spurs team and expects them to play the better football on the night.

'Tottenham will probably be the best team on the night,' he added. 'But I just think United will have enough to win.'

United are narrowly favoured by UK bookmakers, although Spurs' strong form in Europe, including knockout wins over AZ Alkmaar, Eintracht Frankfurt and Bodo/Glimt, has made them serious contenders.

Both clubs have rotated heavily in recent weeks to preserve their top players for Europe, effectively writing off their woeful Premier League campaigns.

United started the weekend 15th in the table, one point and one place above Spurs. The Red Devils thrashed Athletic Bilbao 7-1 over two legs in their Europa League semi-final but failed to beat Brentford, Bournemouth, Wolves, Newcastle, Man City and Nottingham Forest in their last six domestic outings.

Scholes, who scored 155 goals in 718 appearances for United between 1994 and 2013 and won 25 trophies, feels uneasy with how Ruben Amorim has seemingly thrown in the towel in the Premier League.

The Portuguese coach has been in charge since November and the Europa League final will be his 41st match in the United dugout. A win would see United qualify for next season's Champions League.

'United should be able to play in two or three competitions at once without sacrificing something, and they've clearly sacrificed the league,' Scholes said.

'I think it's quite risky sacrificing the Premier League for the sake of Champions League football next year.'

But Scholes still believes Amorim has long-term potential and can take inspiration from Mikel Arteta's journey at Arsenal.

Arsenal finished eighth in each of Arteta's first two seasons as manager but they have since placed fifth, second and second.

The Gunners look likely to finish second again this term, but European success is no longer on the menu after Arteta's men exited the Champions League at the hands of Paris Saint-Germain on Wednesday night.

Scholes said: 'I would swap United's season this year for Arsenal's campaign even if they go on and win the Europa League. All day long.

'It wouldn't be a bad example for Amorim to take. He can have a look at Arsenal and just study what Arteta has done over recent years. It might be the starting block for United.'

Scholes also urged the club to do everything possible to keep hold of captain Bruno Fernandes, who has been linked with a possible move to Saudi Arabia.

'Bruno has to stay because he's the best player,' he said. 'He's involved in nearly everything United do well. It's quite clear they need to keep him and build a team around him.'

When Harry Kane went out on loan to Leyton Orient and Millwall at the dawn of his career and felt the chill of the lower leagues, it was in the hope that at some stage of his football life that was to come, he would be lucky enough to experience a day like this Saturday in Bavaria.

When he struggled to find acceptance at Tottenham Hotspur, he played for days like this when Bayern Munich fans sat at the wooden tables outside the famous old Gasthaus Isarthor in the city centre a few hours before the game, gulping back their glasses of Augustiner pilsner, wearing shirts with Kane's name on the back.

When the first chance of a trophy passed him by as Spurs lost to Chelsea in the 2015 League Cup final, he plugged away in the hope of days like this when Bayern fans poured on to the Metro at Odeonsplatz and began the pilgrimage to the Allianz Arena to watch their team play Borussia Monchengladbach and then lift the Bundesliga shield that they clinched a few days ago.

When he suffered the pain of losing out to Leicester City for the Premier League title when so many thought it was Spurs' to win in 2016, he returned in the hope of days like this when the final whistle blew at the end of a game and even he, even Kane the ultimate professional, the understated leader, would spend much of the next hour running around the pitch like a happy kid, pitchers of beer in his hands, looking for team-mates to drench and being drenched back. After being the object of so much schadenfreude for so long, nobody could mock him for his lack of trophies any longer.

When he came back from injury to play in the 2019 Champions League final and Spurs lost to Liverpool, he began the climb back towards the summit for days like this when he could gaze around this monument to football dominance, a place steeped in victory, and let the sensations ripple around him and know, at last, that this is what triumph tastes like.

When he was a runner-up again in the Premier League in 2017, this time to Chelsea, he went back to the well for days like this when he gilded Bayern's day of celebration of their 34th German title with a brilliant instinctive first-half header that put them 1-0 up against Monchengladbach and took his record in German league football to a remarkable 61 goals in 62 games.

He is 31 now and this was the day that England's captain and record goalscorer lifted the trophy that meant he was a nearly man no longer. This was the day that a shadow fell away from him.

This was the day when one of the greatest players England has ever produced was finally free of the taint of disappointment and failure that has clung to him, with club and country, for so long.

Generations of England players have grown used to their international careers being defined by the failure to emulate the World Cup win of 1966 but many of them have found solace in glories for their clubs. Not Kane. Not until now.

He is a son of the club of Danny Blanchflower, the man who talked so lyrically of football as a glory game, but for Kane, this is the first time that glory has wrapped him in its embrace. He is part of a glory machine here. This match, which Bayern won 2-0 after a late second from Michael Olise, also served as an emotional farewell to Thomas Muller, who was playing his last home game for the club and his 750th in all.

When he was honoured on the pitch before the game, he was presented with a picture that showed him sitting among the 33 trophies he has won in his senior career here. Kane has one to those 33 but he is a part of that history now. He is a champion at last.

This must have tasted particularly sweet for Kane, who came off in added time at the end of the match. He knew his lack of trophies was his career Achilles heel.

He knew, too, that his critics had taken particular glee in the fact that he had arrived at Bayern last season after the German giants had won the title for the previous 11 seasons in succession, only for them promptly to lose the Bun-desliga to Xabi Alonso's all-conquering Bayer Leverkusen.

Kane's detractors said he was a jinx but, as he celebrated in the bright evening chill at the Allianz Arena, it was Kane who laughed longest. The fact that Bayern were beaten to the title by Leverkusen last season actually gives Kane's triumph this season more meaning. If this had been Bayern's 13th title in a row, it would have made it feel as if Bayern's wins were automatic, a symptom of a one-team league, something that kept happening whoever pulled on the shirt.

Instead, Bayern's failure gave their victory this season context. It was something they had to fight for. And Kane has been germane to Bayern re-establishing their dominance and putting Lever-kusen firmly back in their place.

No one can argue now that Kane's move to Germany has not been a runaway success. He scored 36 goals in his debut Bundesliga campaign and he has scored 25 more this season, making him, once more, the league's leading striker. He has scored 80 goals in 89 appearances for Bayern in all competitions.

Only Gerd Muller and Robert Lewandowski, who Kane was effectively signed to replace, have scored more league goals in a single Bundesliga season than Kane did in his first year but there are other records that the England captain has eclipsed.

In April, he became the fastest player to hit 60 goals in the competition, at a rate of a goal a game. That meant he broke the previous record, held by Erling Haaland, by five games. He has added 15 assists to that goals total, too.

Individual accolades are nothing new. He won three Premier League Golden Boots. He won the Golden Boot at the 2018 World Cup. But what happened here on Saturday was different. Careers are measured by what you win with a team.

Team honours are what define you as a footballer and now, to add to all his gleaming boots and his hundreds of goals, Kane has a winner's medal. Maybe Spurs will follow him across the line in Bilbao in 10 days by winning the Europa League. Kane would love that just as Spurs fans are relishing what he has achieved in Munich.

He ended his day walking down a red carpet across the pitch, and climbing on to a stage that had been hastily erected close to the centre circle. A man in a suit hung a medal around his neck and the announcer yelled out: 'Harry Kane, Deutsche Meister.'

He stood amongst his team-mates as Muller lifted the shield and then took his turn with it. Every player did it and every time, Kane threw his hands into the air to celebrate, as if he could never get enough of the ritual.

As the celebrations wore on and Kane continued to cheer every player who lifted the shield with the same gusto as the first time, Freddie Mercury's voice came over the loudspeaker. 'I've done my sentence but committed no crime,' he sang. 'I've had my share of sand kicked in my face, but I've come through.' Kane is a champion and a shadow has left him.

Tottenham have been handed a major injury boost as they gear up for the Europa League final this month - with one player set to return this weekend.

Spurs booked their spot in Bilbao on May 21 and will take on Manchester United after beating Bodo/Glimt 5-1 on aggregate in the semi-finals of the competition.

Ange Postecoglou has been forced to deal with several injury headaches over the course of the season and his side have slumped down to 16th in the Premier League.

However, they could end the campaign on a high by winning a first trophy since 2008.

The latest regular to be ruled out is James Maddison and the playmaker will miss the rest of the campaign after suffering a knee injury in the first leg against Bodo/Glimt.

But Postecoglou has been handed some belated good news with captain Son Heung-min expected to return to the fold against Crystal Palace on Sunday.

Son has missed the past seven matches with a foot issue but his availability is timely.

'Everyone got through OK the other night,' Postecoglou said in his press conference.

'Half-hopeful that we get Sonny some minutes tomorrow so he'll be the only one that sort of can come back in. I think what we do know about Thursday night, playing on an artificial pitch takes a lot out of the players - it's fair to say they were sore.

'I remember when we played Tamworth, we actually got a couple of injuries in the game straight after that, I think, because of the surface.

'We've got to be careful about Sunday's game, but next Friday it's a bit different.

'I think we've just got to make decisions we think [are right].

'Ultimately we want to be in a great condition come the final, so we'll use that.'

Postecoglou admitted he has found it difficult to manage the fitness of his players after the sheer number of absentees rendered his squad threadbare.

'We have tried to navigate that for the last couple of months, particularly with Micky [van de Ven], [Cristian] Romero and Destiny [Udogie] to have missed a huge chunk of the season,' he said. 'When these guys come back you really have to manage them.

'Romero and Micky had a couple of setbacks after coming back so we have to change our path and processes and part of that is just managing their minutes.

'They need to get some game time before the final, though unlikely to be tomorrow.'

David Moyes has strongly denied any suggestions that he is keen on bringing Richarlison back to Everton this summer.

The 27-year-old spent four years at Goodison Park, scoring 53 goals in 152 games, before moving to Tottenham Hotspur for £60million in 2022.

The Brazil international has been linked with a return to the Toffees, with reports indicating Moyes was interested in the forward, who has two years left on his contract.

But Moyes, who is in his second stint at the club, ruled out a return for Richarlison.

Speaking at a press conference ahead of Everton's trip to Craven Cottage, the 62-year-old said: 'Richarlison is a really good player and someone I've liked.

'But I can only tell you there is zero truth in that from my side.'

Everton face a busy summer ahead of their first season at their new stadium in Bramley-Moore Dock.

There will be 15 players, including loanees, who are out of contract at the end of June.

Midfielder Abdoulaye Doucoure, who has been at Everton since 2020, is one player who could leave.

He revealed there had been 'no talks' over a new deal earlier this week.

The 32-year-old Mali international said he would not take a pay cut as he believed he deserved an improved offer.

Moyes said: 'Some of the games he's played very well but he is obviously no spring chicken, so we have to make sure we have other replacements when required.

'We are making lots of decisions behind the scenes. It is good to have so many [players] that want to stay.'

Everton currently sit in 14th, above Europa League finalists Manchester United and Spurs, in the Premier League with just three games remaining.

Their form has dramatically improved since Moyes returned to the club, replacing Sean Dyche in January.

Tottenham star James Maddison has expressed his frustration at missing the Europa League final due to injury.

Ange Postecoglou's side secured their place in the final on Thursday night as they won 2-0 away to Bodo/Glimt to give them a 5-1 victory on aggregate.

Tottenham will take on Manchester United in an eagerly-anticipated all-English final in Bilbao on May 21.

However, Maddison will not be able to feature as he has been ruled out for the rest of the season with a knee injury.

Maddison sustained the problem during the first leg against Bodo/Glimt - a game in which he scored.

The 28-year-old was absent for the second leg and will now miss the final.

Although he admitted that the situation 'is really tough to take', Maddison outlined his belief that Tottenham can prevail and secure their first silverware since 2008.

Maddison wrote on X: 'Gutted. Just absolutely gutted. We’ve had our sights on that European final in Bilbao from day one of this campaign. So to accept not being able to take part out on that pitch with the boys is really tough to take.

'Injuries are just part of this game that can be so cruel at times. But I truly believe that it can be a special night for my football club. Bring on the 21st. All together.'

Maddison has played a significant part in Tottenham's run to the Europa League final, contributing with three goals and four assists in eleven matches.

As well as Maddison, Tottenham will also be without Radu Dragusin and Lucas Bergvall against United.

Son Heung-min could feature when Tottenham return to league action on Sunday with a home game against Crystal Palace.

It has been a challenging season in the league for Tottenham, with Postecoglou's team in 16th place in the table.

However, success in the Europa League would provide the club with a significant boost.

In the knockout stages of the competition, Tottenham managed to overcome AZ Alkmaar and Eintracht Frankfurt prior to triumphing against Bodo/Glimt.

Maddison has previously won the FA Cup and the Community Shield with Leicester but will hope that Tottenham can overcome United to secure the first European trophy of his career.

UEFA have come to a decision over where the Europa League final will be played this summer between Manchester United and Tottenham.

Both Premier League sides booked their tickets on Thursday night, seeing out second leg victories after strong performances in their first legs, despite their inconsistent league form.

United saw off Athletic Club 7-1 on aggregate, following up last week's 3-0 win with a 4-1 triumph at Old Trafford, having gone a goal behind.

Meanwhile, Tottenham traveled to the Arctic Circle to beat Bodo/Glimt 2-0 on the night and 5-1 on aggregate.

The match was originally slated to take place at San Mames in Bilbao, which can only hold a maximum of 53,289 fans, though both clubs will likely demand far more, which had led to calls for the game to be moved.

However, there was no chance of a change of venue after the ground was awarded the match back in 2021, and it will proceed to take place in the Basque city.

English teams have met in European finals before without the game being moved, for example Man City and Chelsea in 2021 and Liverpool and Tottenham in 2019.

It isn't even the first in the Europa League, with Arsenal taking on Chelsea in Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan, back in 2019.

In total, there have been seven finals competed between teams from the same division in the last 15 years alone in Europe, none of which have been moved.

Both sets of fans will be provided with 15,000 tickets, while a further 11,000 will go on general sale.

As part of Uefa's 'fans first' scheme, the tickets awarded to each teams' fanbase are the most affordable, with prices starting at €40 (£34), while those for the general public range from €65 to 240 (£55 to £204).

The remaining 12,000 seats will be offered to sponsors and hospitality guests for the highly-anticipated clash.

As of 8am BST on Friday, the cheapest flight to get from London to Bilbao on May 21 would run Spurs fans a whopping £355 for a one-way ticket, according to SkyScanner.

To fly back from Bilbao to the English capital the next day, the cheapest flight costs £175, departing at 7:40am with a stop at the Canary Islands along the way.

Your browser does not support iframes.

For the luxury of a direct afternoon flight home, fans can expect to pay over £500, with less than a dozen of these tickets still available online.

Meanwhile, United fans would have to cough up even more. From Manchester to Bilbao, the cheapest plane ticket on May 21 (that arrives two or more hours before kick-off) costs £524, with a stop in Munich, Germany, on the way.

To return from Bilbao, the cheapest flight on May 22 costs £446, departing at around mid-day with a stop in Lisbon, Portugal, on the way. Direct flights back to Manchester are currently going for a mind-boggling £941 at the lowest.

Shrewd opportunists who might look to get a cheaper deal by flying out the eve of the game are met with disappointment, as this would cost even more than flying on the day - from both Manchester and London.

A more price-friendly option would be to travel by coach; a journey from London Victoria Coach Station to Bilbao would take around 26 hours and costs around £108 one way, leaving at 12:30pm the day before the game, as per Trainline.com.

As it stands, there are no coach tickets available directly from Manchester to Bilbao, meaning United fans would have to make the trip down to London if they opted for this mode of transport.

Anyone looking to make their own ways to Bilbao by driving would still face hundreds in travel costs.

Journeying through the Channel Tunnel will cost just under £200, with petrol and a potential overnight hotel stay adding to the total expense. Hotel prices in the city centre range anywhere between £850 and £13,345.

Manchester United face West Ham and Chelsea prior to the Europa League final

Ruben Amorim is not on board with the idea of resting all of his star players now

LISTEN NOW: It's All Kicking Off! Are Arsenal even close to achieving big things?

Ruben Amorim has no plans to wrap his Manchester United stars in cotton wool between now and the Europa League final, insisting 'it's better to play than to stay out'.

United are slumped down in 15th in the Premier League and must navigate games against West Ham and Chelsea before facing Tottenham Hotspur in the Europa League final on May 21.

Manchester United and Tottenham's seasons hinge on that showpiece in Bilbao - but Amorim is against the idea of keeping his star names on the sidelines between now and then.

'They will play because sometimes it's better to play,' Amorim explained.

'What I will protect is the players that can get an injury. For example, Bruno, or the last game before Tottenham, but we moved the game to Friday, Chelsea, so we will have time to recover.

'We want to be competitive also in the Premier League. Bruno doesn't have the problem of (knocks table) any injury, but Harry [Maguire] has. So we will have to manage that, but they have to play. It's better to play than to stay out.'

Amorim made eight changes between the two legs of their Europa League semi-final when they lost 4-3 away to Brentford.

While opportunities will arise for academy products such as Harry Amass, Tyler Fredricson and Chido Obi, Amorim wants to keep competition for places high by allowing his players to compete in the league.

'Of course, they will fight for the places,' he said.

'They will be ready, excited, and that is the good thing, not just the final, but also to prepare the games of the Premier League, with something in our mind that we can win. It's going to be massive.'

Amorim felt at Brentford that too many of his players already had one eye on the semi-final second leg, which United won 4-1 on the night against Athletic Club, and while the success of the season hinges on winning the Europa League, he has no desire to throw the remaining league games.

'We cannot save nothing from the Premier League,' he said, 'but I think it's a good thing for them [to play].

'We will not have a lot of trainings. They will fight for a place in the final in these games.

'I think against Brentford we had some mistakes. I felt that some of our players were thinking about this game. So we have to manage that.

'But we also have to acknowledge that we are Manchester United. We need to win games also in the Premier League.

'We have to use every game to improve, even to prepare for the final, but especially to prepare for the future.'

Ange Postecoglou gave an emotional speech to his Tottenham players after they booked their place in the Europa League final.

Amidst one of their worst league campaigns in the club's modern history, European football has served as a consistent reprieve for Spurs and Thursday night proved no different.

After securing a 3-1 victory on home soil in the first leg of their semi-final clash with Bodo/Glimt last week, Postecoglou's side travelled to Norway intent on moving within one game of their first European title in more than three decades.

Just one day after their north London rivals saw their European hopes dashed at the hands of PSG, goals from Pedro Porro and Dominic Solanke were enough for Tottenham to comfortably progress to the final later this month.

With his side potentially just 90 minutes away from fulfilling his prophecy of second season silverware an emotional Postecoglou addressed the team in the dressing room post-match.

Looking ahead to an all-English clash with Manchester United, Postecoglou delivered a rousing address to his squad, with a video of the speech shared on the club's official X account.

'I've said it before that what you, as a group, players and staff have gone through this year... I've been in this game a long time, I'm very experienced, I've experienced it all, but I'm so proud of how all of you have just stuck together,' he said.

'Not one time have I felt like people are not believing or have lost what we have in here, and it's just outstanding.

'People will never realise what it's taken for you guys to be in this position, and you deserve all the credit for that.

'It's unbelievable what you've done. To come to this place, difficult place, win comfortably, but the whole time through, all the things we've had to deal with. There's people who aren't with us today, who are back home.

'Fraser [Forster] played a big part, Sonny's played a big part, Madders, Lucas [Bergvall], Radu [Dragusin], they've all played a big part.

'Everyone's contributed, and that's the main thing that's got us to this point. We've had problems for sure, but we've stuck together, and you deserve it. Now we've got two weeks, just under two weeks to prepare.

'Every day is important, every day, every training session, every game we have between now and then is about getting ready for that big game.

'You can change things, you saw what you did, 400 supporters here today, they'll never forget it. There's thousands back home, you can make it something really special.

'I keep saying to you, this is the group of players that are going to do it. So focus on that for now, but you deserve all the credit, it's been outstanding. So from tomorrow we focus, yeah?'

The staggering cost for Manchester United and Tottenham fans to attend the Europa League final in Bilbao has been revealed.

The Red Devils booked their spot in the deciding round of the tournament for the second time this decade, after depriving Athletic Bilbao of an invitation to their own party by beating them 7-1 across two legs.

Meanwhile, Spurs beat Bodo/Glimt 5-1 on aggregate and travel to northern Spain in search of their first European trophy since they won the UEFA Cup in 1984.

Their last trip to the top stage of a European competition was also an all-English affair, when Liverpool beat them 2-0 in the 2019 Champions League final.

This year's Europa League final will be held on May 21 at the Estadio San Mames with each finalist set to receive 15,000 tickets out of the 49,600 available.

As part of Uefa's 'fans first' scheme, these tickets are the most affordable, with prices starting at €40 (£34).

The 19,6000 tickets allocated to the general public range from €65 to 240 (£55 to £204), while hospitality packages range from €1290 to 1490 (£1,096 to £1,266) per person.

As of 8am BST on Friday, the cheapest flight to get from London to Bilbao on May 21 would run Spurs fans a whopping £355 for a one-way ticket, according to SkyScanner.

To fly back from Bilbao to the English capital the next day, the cheapest flight costs £175, departing at 7:40am with a stop at the Canary Islands along the way.

For the luxury of a direct afternoon flight home, fans can expect to pay over £500, with less than a dozen of these tickets still available online.

Meanwhile, United fans would have to cough up even more. From Manchester to Bilbao, the cheapest plane ticket on May 21 (that arrives two or more hours before kick-off) costs £524, with a stop in Munich, Germany, on the way.

To return from Bilbao, the cheapest flight on May 22 costs £446, departing at around mid-day with a stop in Lisbon, Portugal, on the way. Direct flights back to Manchester are currently going for a mind-boggling £941 at the lowest.

Shrewd opportunists who might look to get a cheaper deal by flying out the eve of the game are met with disappointment, as this would cost even more than flying on the day - from both Manchester and London.

A more price-friendly option would be to travel by coach; a journey from London Victoria Coach Station to Bilbao would take around 26 hours and costs around £108 one way, leaving at 12:30pm the day before the game, as per Trainline.com.

As it stands, there are no coach tickets available directly from Manchester to Bilbao, meaning United fans would have to make the trip down to London if they opted for this mode of transport.

Anyone looking to make their own ways to Bilbao by driving would still face hundreds in travel costs.

Journeying through the Channel Tunnel will cost just under £200, with petrol and a potential overnight hotel stay adding to the total expense.

At a last resort, there are direct return ferries from Portsmouth to Bilbao, which take around 34 hours and cost almost £900 in a car or just under £400 on foot. Trips leave port on Sunday, May 18, arriving in Bilbao on Tuesday, May 20.

The return ferry leaves Bilbao on Saturday, May 24, meaning fans would have to make a proper holiday out of their trip. Factoring in hotel costs and living expenses for four nights, this may not be the most financially savvy choice.

Hotel prices in the city centre range anywhere between £850 and £13,345.

However, fans could opt to stay in nearby towns such as Bakio, Bermeo and Mundaka, which are all 30 to 40-minute drives away from Bilbao, where there are cheaper alternatives available.

Ruben Amorim warned his Manchester United players they have won nothing yet after they booked their place in the Europa League final.

Over in Norway, Tottenham Hotspur ensured their own spot in the Bilbao showpiece on May 21 with a 2-0 win over Bodo/Glimt, while United came from behind to win 4-1.

Bilbao will be the stage where the two Premier League sides will go head to head to salvage their nightmare seasons in one of the highest stakes games in recent years for both clubs.

Tottenham are one of only five teams worse in the Premier League this season than Manchester United, sitting 16th, and both teams must win to qualify for next season’s Champions League.

Amorim headed straight down the tunnel as his players celebrated after a 4-1 win over Athletic Club last night and he warned them that there is still a lot of work to do before he joins any celebrations.

‘I'm just worried about the next game, trying to not get any injuries for the final. If we don't win the final, it means nothing for us,’ Amorim said.

‘We have to have a full squad [against Tottenham], stay in the game and have a bit of luck and we have to be clinical.

‘It’s quite similar for me and Ange [Postecoglou]. It is a tough moment [for us both] and one of us is going to win. It's going to be a big final and we will try to win.’

United came into last night’s second leg with a 3-0 lead from the first leg but for 70 minutes they looked set to make this as difficult as possible as they fell behind in the first half.

But Amorim made decisive changes off the bench with Amad Diallo and Mason Mount, who scored a brace for his first goals at Old Trafford, to ease the pressure tumbling down from the stands.

‘It's hard to describe what it's like to be manager of this club and you want to give them [the fans] something because we were so disappointing in the Premier League,’ he added.

‘We want to give something to the fans.

‘I am stressed already because of the final. If you don’t win it, it is nothing. We are happy to be there. Let’s see.’

Amorim added: ‘I can see I should be a better manager in this moment, the team should be better in this moment but we are trying and I think we did quite well in Europe.

‘We struggle a lot in Premier league so let’s see.’

For defeated boss Ernesto Valverde, there was pride in how his team fought and he was eager to take the learnings from a bruising night in Manchester.

‘You learn from everything,’ he said.

‘For many players, it was their first season in Europe after being out of this competition for a while. You learn from these things too.

'I'm feeling good about the end of the match, but we've had a great competition from the start. I'm a little annoyed that for 10 minutes we had a bittersweet feeling.

‘I'm left with the feeling that we could have done much more in this tie.’