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Why Manchester United vs Tottenham Hotspur will be the strangest ever European final

Submitted by daniel on

Heroes and villains. It was clearly a theme the Manchester United players Bruno Fernandes and Harry Maguire had been briefed on as they spoke ahead of what, frankly, is the most curious and strangest major final in the history of European competition. Or any competition.

That is some statement but it is undeniably true. It is hard to recall such a miserable, frustrated build-up. And never before have the head coaches of two big clubs gone into such a showpiece occasion with the overriding themes being whether they and their teams are good enough. And whether they even deserve to win it. And whether they should carry on. And be questioned about this.

Heroes and villains. Ruben Amorim and Ange Postecoglou again faced the music and know the consequences. For Postecoglou it was too much and he snapped, which indicated what we all know: the game is up for him at Tottenham Hotspur, come what may.

Even if he wins the club’s first trophy since 2008 and keeps his promise of silverware in his second season he is expected to leave following a miserable domestic campaign with Tottenham just one place above the relegation zone and thankful, as United are, just a place better off, that the three promoted sides have made such a weak go of it.

The recent Premier League form is simply extraordinary. It reads, for United: LLDLLL. And for Spurs? LLLDLL. That is 12 matches, no wins and just two points from a possible 36. From two of the league’s biggest and most expensively assembled squads. To put that in context those three relegated teams have all done better in recent weeks.

So it is no wonder there is such scrutiny on Amorim and Postecoglou.

“It’s not been good enough. We have been far too inconsistent,” Maguire said, and it could have been any of the 22 players who will start the final, talking. Even if, in truth, there has been consistency. They have been consistently bad.

“When you play for this club you can be amazing one week and then a villain,” he added with Fernandes adopting the same tune: “Every game at this club is massive. One week you can be a hero, the next a villain.”

So it is time for heroes, for sure, and while Amorim stressed his own theme – that winning the trophy will not save United’s season – he accepted, this time, that it might just mean “people will look at us in a different way”.

For most clubs and most managers reaching a major final normally invokes some kind of hero status. After all, the aim of sport is to try to win trophies. Just witness the scenes at Wembley last Saturday as Crystal Palace fans celebrated victory in the FA Cup.

That, of course, was Palace’s first trophy in its entire history. If United win it will be their third in three years, with most supporters reacting to that statement by saying: ‘somehow’.

Undoubtedly the context is different. Palace and United are clubs of different dimensions as are Palace and Spurs. And United’s relative success has simply masked everything.

All-pervading discontent

No-one talks about how well run United are. There is an unhappiness around both Europa League finalists that has, unfortunately, almost seeped into their very fabric. It has been going on so long that it is a stain that the gloss of a cup win will not easily remove.

Discontent is everywhere with United’s unhealthy mix of cost-cutting, over-spending and mismanagement becoming an awful, perfect storm while in Spurs’ case years of frustration have begun to boil over.

There are even theories afoot that it might, actually, be in the interests of each club to lose. For United it would take them to ground zero and out of Europe completely and, while it would leave a near £100 million financial black hole, it would give Amorim more time to rebuild diligently.

He admitted as much last week when he stated that being in the Champions League could be a poisoned chalice. The inference? United are nowhere near ready.

And for Spurs? There is that perennial accusation aimed at chairman Daniel Levy from disgruntled fans that he does not actually want to be at the top table because of the spending it requires to compete. Plus he may well be looking for a new head coach. It is a charge he would of course deny.

So where are we at with this final of two hugely under-performing, erratic, confidence-shredded big names slugging it out in Bilbao like a pair of over-the-hill heavyweights? Victory will not hide the greater problems – as Amorim himself stressed again when he talked about how they will “not be solved by winning a cup. We have bigger things to deal with”.

United do. As do Spurs. But on big nights – and this will be a big night, whatever the context, whatever the carping about a backdoor route into the Champions League – history and mottoes kick in. Both clubs also have songs written about them whose first two words are “glory, glory”. So, go for glory.

It is, as those United players stated, an opportunity for villains to become heroes even if, for some, on the pitch and in the dug-out, it may also be a last hurrah.

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