Tottenham Hotspur are Europa League Champions following their narrow 1-0 victory over Manchester United in Bilbao on Wednesday night. Here’s what we learned from the match.
Embed from Getty Images#3 – Johnson got the last laugh
At the start of the season, Brennan Johnson deactivated his Instagram account due to reported abuse.
He answered his critics immediately back then by going on to score in the following seven consecutive matches but last night’s goal put the nail in the coffin for his doubters.
He had just one shot, 25 touches and completed 8 passes but ultimately provided the key moment to end Tottenham’s 17-year wait for a major trophy.
The Welsh winger has now scored 18 goals and provided 4 assists in 50 matches across all competitions this season.
Embed from Getty Images#2 – A historic lack of the ball wins the match
Not only did Spurs end their trophy drought, but they made history whilst doing so. Their three shots, 27% possession and 115 completed passes were all the lowest figures ever recorded in a major European final.
Spurs had a pass-completion rate of just 62 per cent, more than 10 per cent lower than in any other match in any competition this season.
Manchester United on the other hand had 73% of the ball, 16 shots, four big chances and made 433 passes yet still couldn’t find the back of the net.
Defence proved the key for Spurs, they were orgnaised and when it came to it, could pull of the spectacular.
Micky van de Ven kept his side ahead in the 68th minute with a superb acrobatic clearance off the line to spare Vicario’s blushes. With just a minute of added time remaining, Vicario made up for his error himself, diving low to palm away United’s final chance.
Embed from Getty Images#1 – Ange kept his word
There’s no doubt it’s been a horrible league campaign for the Lilywhites, they currently sit 17th on 38 points, suffering 21 defeats.
In Europe though, Tottenham have really focused and managed to get the job done, just as Ange Postecoglu said they would earlier in the season.
Back in September, following a 1-0 defeat to Arsenal, the Spurs boss was mocked for claiming he “always wins silverware in his second season”.
Six months later though and he’s done just that. In a post-match interview for TNT Sports, Postecoglu said: “It was not me boasting, just me making a declaration and I believed it. I had this thing inside me more than anything else. That was my ambition and I was prepared to wear it if it did not happen.”
Embed from Getty ImagesWritten by Isabelle Newnham
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