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Tottenham wins the Europa League, beating Manchester United in the final (1-0) in an all-English final, and qualifies for the Champions League.

A goal halfway between an own goal by Shaw and a strike by Brennan Johnson gives Tottenham their first Europa League title in history: the Spurs‘ trophy cabinet welcomes a trophy after 32 years of waiting.

Amorim, what a disaster: Europa League goes to Tottenham

It’s the worst season in the history of Manchester United. I’m not saying this, the same coach of the Red Devils, Ruben Amorim, said it in a recent press conference. The Portuguese coach’s awareness had led him to say that the season would not have been enough even with the victory in the Europa League and the consequent qualification in the Champions League, let alone with a lost final.

A match cannot overturn the judgment (positive or negative) on a season, but it can certainly represent a snapshot of it. United, having lost the fig leaf of an Europa League final won without even losing a game, finds itself naked in front of its mistakes. The first of all being to rely on a very talented coach, who surely (if given the time) will return the club to the dimension it deserves, but certainly was not the right caretaker for such a situation.

Van Nistelrooy deserved a chance as an interim manager. The disastrous second half of the season for Leicester, where the Dutch coach is the least of the culprits, should not deceive. Tottenham deserved to lift the trophy, while Manchester United did not even deserve to play in the final (given the blatant theft against Athletic Bilbao in the semifinals) and, in some ways, didn’t.

The Red Devils kicked twice, notably, towards the goal defended by Vicario. The Italian goalkeeper risked being a negative protagonist of the evening and the season for the Spurs, after a season that, due to injuries – his and those of his fellow defenders, which took stability and certainty away from the defense – did not allow him to perform at his levels. The duel for the national team’s goal was clearly won by Donnarumma, who with his saves dragged PSG to the Champions League final.

A situation that was far from certain even at the beginning of this season, but the former Empoli goalkeeper still managed to get his gloves on the season-saving cup in stoppage time. When he repelled a header from Shaw (of all people), in one of the few (real) dangerous situations created by his opponents. Previously, a misjudgment of his allowed another former Serie A player, former Atalanta Hojlund, to practically score an open goal, but a fantastic acrobatic intervention by van de Ven saved the shot on the goal line.

Tottenham will play in the Champions League next year, while Manchester United (with one Premier League game left to play) will finish 14th if all goes well. If it goes poorly, they will finish 17th, being overtaken by the Spurs, leaving behind only the trio of newly promoted-relegated teams who essentially played a separate season from all the others. A failure of historic proportions, from which it will be very difficult to recover. The Red Devils‘ dressing room has a hunger to devour coaches in series, even more experienced and with broader shoulders than the former Sporting Lisbon coach, who risks having burned a brilliant career.

EUROPA LEAGUE BALL (PHOTO BY SALVATORE FORNELLI)