Tottenham finally have their hands on a European trophy for the first time in 17 years, following a 1-0 victory over Manchester United in the Europa League final.
Brennan Johnson’s first-half strike was the difference on the night, as United turned in another dull performance. Rival fans will no longer joke about the club by calling them ‘Spursy’ or referring to them as ‘Dr Tottenham.’
And reality sank in when the full-time whistle blew. Some dropped to the floor, while others took off sprinting around the pitch. All the criticism the club endured over the years now feels irrelevant.
“The moment I accepted the role [as manager] I had one thing in my head, and that was to win something,” Ange Postecoglou said after the game. “More than anything else I had that in my head, and we’ve done that now so I want to build on it.
“I am super proud – this is one for the true believers. I’m still taking it all in. I know what it means for this football club. The longer it goes, the harder it is to break that cycle. I could sense the nerves in everyone at the club and until you take that monkey off your back, you never understand what it feels like.”
Here, football.london has taken a look at how the events were reported across the national media.
Tottenham clinch Europa League glory on golden night to floor Manchester United
David Hytner of The Guardian, wrote: “For Ange Postecoglou and Tottenham, there was only one story, one mission. It was not about what happens next with the manager; that can wait. It was about grasping an opportunity that does not come around very often, about emerging from what has felt like a generation’s worth of jibes; about winning.
“On a golden night for their longsuffering followers, they chased the baggage from their backs, they changed the narrative. Yet again, Postecoglou won in his second season at a club. For the first time since 2008, Spurs got their hands on a trophy. There was an idea that success here could do more than rescue the season and bring Champions League qualification; it could unlock something.
“It was a long way from being a classic but try telling that to the hordes in white who danced and pulled each other tight when it was all over, lost in the emotion. Spurs scored just before the interval when Brennan Johnson attacked a Pape Sarr cross, the ball spinning home – just about – with assistance from the unfortunate Manchester United defender, Luke Shaw. And thereafter, Postecoglou’s team simply defended. They did so with their lives. Their expected goals statistic for the second half? 0.00. It did not matter. The only thing that did was keeping United out.”
Read more here.
Ange Postecoglou keeps promise and ends Spurs’ 17-year trophy drought
Jason Burt of The Telegraph, wrote: “Ange Postecoglou did it. It is what he does, mate. This may well be his mic-drop moment as the only goalscorer, Brennan Johnson, later said. Tottenham Hotspur have won their first trophy in 17 years, their first in Europe for more than four decades, and the head coach kept his promise. The Australian won a trophy in his second season in charge – as he always has done and as he declared he would do again.
“Some scoffed at his claim. Others used it to ridicule him. Now it is probably the end for him at Spurs, with the expectation that he will leave after a wretched league campaign, despite also delivering Champions League qualification. A trophy parade and a taxi out of here? The only goal, a messy, error-strewn one, felt in keeping with a low-grade but high-octane, tense final.
“This time United did not get away with it, even if there were a few late chances, not least a header from Rasmus Hojlund, which led to a stunningly acrobatic goal-line clearance by Micky van de Ven. The goal was fit for this final. It was probably an own goal – but not deemed as one as Uefa officially awarded it to Johnson, even if it appeared to go directly in off Shaw’s chest. That felt cruelly apt, given what it has been like for United all season.”
Read more here.
Brennan Johnson’s goal sees Spurs shed their flaky identity… but United are an embarrassment to themselves, their fans, Sir Alex Ferguson and English football
Oliver Holt of The Daily Mail, wrote: ” Flaky Spurs, fragile Spurs, the team that always finds a way to lose, the team that always cracks under pressure, the team that has lent its name to the adjective ‘Spursy’, so beloved of rival fans, all that is gone now. ‘Dr Tottenham will see you now,’ other fans laughed. Spurs had that reputation. They could be relied upon to fix your problems by losing to you. Not any more. Not here in northern Spain. This may have been an awful game but Tottenham won it and that was all that mattered.
“And so they are a joke no more. And no one can call Ange Postecoglou, their manager, a clown, the label he had raged against the previous evening. Postecoglou, who took charge of his 100th Spurs game here, may lose his job at the end of the season but he has had the last laugh. He won a trophy in his second season, just as he told us he always did. And so after a season in which they finished 17th in the Premier League and lost 21 games – so far – Spurs will be in the Champions League next season with Europe’s elite and the £100m windfall that could bring.
“They did not look like a team that will fare well in that company but, once more, their fans will not care too much about that. They are losers no more. For United, there was no consolation. They were abject. Utterly abject. Their performance had no redeeming features. They were an embarrassment to themselves and to their fans, to Sir Alex Ferguson, who was watching in the stands, to their glorious history and to English football. Heaven knows what fate awaits them now at the hands of Sir Jim Ratcliffe.”
Read more here.
Tottenham joy vindicates Ange Postecoglou’s biggest decision of Europa League triumph
Miguel Delaney of The Independent, wrote: “Ange Postecoglou dared to say it, and his players have gone and done it. The Greek-Australian has won a trophy in his second season, and Tottenham Hotspur’s first in 17 years. The Europa League has often been discussed in terms of what it means regarding everything else in football but, for Spurs, it is suitably about glory. This is their moment, this scrappy 1-0 win over Manchester United was deserved.
“That means it might also be another even longer period of pain for Ruben Amorim – if he remains at the club for that long. The promise and hope of United’s season is gone, and all because Postecoglou lived up to his own promise. United now have so many more questions, from what they do with transfers to – most pertinently – what the manager is doing with this system. While they are left reeling at the worst campaign in their modern history, Spurs can forget all of that.
“The end has justified some mean stuff. The decisions were worth it. Postecoglou’s appointment, despite all of the fair criticisms and remaining doubts, was worth it. He has given this club what they most wanted, through all of the agitation and frustrations from the board. That obviously doesn’t mean they go away. It is unlikely to mean Postecoglou stays. But the beautiful, uplifting point is that they have their moment. This is what lasts.”
Read more here.
Spurs end 17-year trophy wait with Europa League final win over Man United
Martin Samuel of The Times, wrote: “Come on, who believed him? Be honest. It’s not like you were on your own. When Ange Postecoglou said he always won a trophy in his second season — not usually, always — even his staunchest advocates must have grimaced a little. As for the cynics, well they wouldn’t have been able to keep a straight face. A trophy? At Tottenham, Ange? Look, mate, it’s not what they do.
“And yet, there it was at the San Mames Stadium, in Bilbao. Men in white, hands on the prize. Son Heung-min lifting the trophy high. White-shirted delirium around half of the arena too. And just for once, it did mean more. Manchester United have had days of great glory, many of them, even in seasons when they’ve been a long way from their best. Yet Tottenham? Stuff like this doesn’t happen to Tottenham.
“They have even become a byword for snatching defeat inexplicably from victory. Yet this was the least Spursy Spurs performance many will have ever seen. It was gritty, it was determined. Once Tottenham got in front after 42 minutes they transformed into a lean, mean repelling machine and United could find no way through. They were the antithesis of the team many feel they know. Tottenham can build on this; Postecoglou can build on this. At least he deserves the chance.”
Read more here.
