MAY 26 — I’m writing this on the Thursday morning after Tottenham Hotspur’s victory in the Europa League Final—their first trophy in 17 years and first European title in 41 years.
I’ll be blunt. If you had asked me to bet money on whether Spurs would even reach the final in Bilbao (let alone win it) I’d have laughed it off and said it’s more likely that John Wick wins the Nobel Peace Prize.
Everyone, especially Tottenham fans, are well aware of the “Spursy” mentality i.e. that Tottenham vibe which can buy talented players, score spectacular goals, produce amazing upsets and even play brilliant football but find it easier to solve world hunger than win a trophy.
As the 2024/205 season progressed, fans had even fewer reasons for hope especially when we saw Tottenham’s performance in the English Premier League.
Gone was the magic of “Angeball” from the last season where Tottenham was in the top 3 for about four months (before eventually finishing 5th in the table).
This time, by October, serious problems in the form of injuries were beginning to rear their heads and Spurs never got above fifth (a position they achieved very early in August).
By Christmas, they were hovering between 12th and 14th and, to fast track this sob story, on the day of the Europa final in Bilbao (in May 2025) Tottenham were 17th in the league — that’s one place above relegation! (see Note 1).
The road to Bilbao
As such, fans can be excused for not exactly betting the bank on the team achieving European glory this year.
I for one wasn’t even paying much attention to Spurs’ progress in Europe which was relatively uneventful.
Their opponents included Qarabag, Ferencvaros, AZ Alkmaar, Galatasaray, AS Roma, Rangers, Hoffenheim, and Elfsborg. Other than a big 3-0 win over Qarabag and a 3-2 loss to Galatasaray and a 3-0 win over Elfsborg, there was really nothing much for a Spurs fan to write home about.
Some were probably even suggesting that, hey, maybe we should quickly drop out of this competition and focus on improving our domestic league position to ensure at least fourth.
(A small irony is that during the 2021/2022 season, Tottenham was forced out of the Europa competition due to a disagreement over rescheduling a match with Stade Rennes from France.
No one complained then because it gave then-manager Antonio Conte more time to work with the team and focus on strengthening their league position.
It is very likely that many fans were hoping for something similar to happen with Ange Postecoglou and his men, especially given how prone Spurs players were to injuries.)
Still, the Tottenham train marched on in Europe. But when I found out Ange & Co were meeting Eintracht Frankfurt in the quarter-finals I was practically sure our Europe affair was going to be over soon.
I mean, Frankfurt was the third placed team in the Bundesliga, what can an injury-hit team from North London (which has never won in Germany before) with 14 losses in the league by April do against them?
Lo and be frickin’ hold! Ange’s boys held their own, drawing in London and then (surely miraculously!) winning 0-1 away in Frankfurt!
At this point I, and many others I’m sure, had to desperately hold back that terrifying notion called Hope because we didn’t want our hearts broken again.
But Hope didn’t give up and when Spurs beat Bodø/Glimt in the semi-final on a controversially difficult Norwegian artificial pitch and super-cold weather, all of a sudden there was real belief. Maybe, just maybe, this year Tottenham can end their trophy drought?
And boy did it rain that night in Bilbao. The game plan against Manchester United was essentially to defend like hell then hit back on the counter. And hit Spurs did.
Brennan Johnson scrambled in a cross from Pape Matar Sarr. It was probably the messiest and least pretty goal scored in Europe this season but no Tottenham fan will care a damn.
Also if you watch the highlights it looks as if Tottenham had only that one shot and that’s it.
Up to the very final second, United was trying to equalise but, to Ange’s and Tottenham’s credit, the back four held firm.
Goalkeeper Guglielmo Vicario had to make two superb saves against Alejandro Garnacho and Luke Shaw in the second half; Micky Van de Ven had to pull off an acrobatic mid-air goal-line clearance against Rasmus Højlund.
Someone wrote after the match that great strikes win matches whilst great goalkeepers and defenders win trophies. Whilst obviously debatable, it was an absolute fact on that Wednesday night in Bilbao.
When that final whistle went, I had to pinch myself. OMG! Tottenham Hotspur has actually won a trophy! An actual “top competition” trophy and not one of those Asean charity tour shields.
In hindsight, Spurs’ victory in the Europa could be the perfect example of a reverse Turkey Illusion i.e. the league performance made everyone believe a trophy was impossible when in fact Postecoglou sacrificed league success (even accepted 17th position) in order to win the Cup.
Ange had to make a choice with the injury cards he was dealt with, not unlike how traders like Nassim Taleb and Mark Spitznael sacrificed capital gains in a bull market in order to use options to reap the windfall in the event of a crash.
Glory glory, Tottenham Hotspur! Let’s have more of this please, Ange?
Note 1: A double irony for this season, of course, was that Tottenham’s rival in the Europa final was Manchester United who was placed 16th in the Premiere League as at last week i.e. only two places above relegation! The 13-time champions of England have also fallen on hard times.
