Key events
Jamie Jackson
It is 11.30 in the AM here in sun dappled Bilbao and the beer is flowing and the sounds of songs rent the air from United fans near where Lord Dave of Hytner and I are quartered in the old town.
The mood is bright and new and shiny – as Europa League final day starts to gather a little pace. Will Ruben Amorim maybe play a false 9 in Bruno Fernandes (or even Kobbie Mainoo) to ‘solve’ the quasi-toothless Rasmus Hojlund ‘issue’: last night the head coach was non committal on what seems perhaps his biggest selection dilemma …
Shall we have a David Hytner Tottenham hat-trick? Go on then.
Bilbao is a small city and therefore the cost of travelling and staying there have become astronomical. We have witnessed plenty of merriment in Bilbao last night but thousands have travelled to San Sebastian and Santander before heading the hour to the San Mames later. Taxi drivers will be having a good night, I am sure.
Jonathan Wilson is in Bilbao and he has really embraced what this final is all about.
Hello, Kaixo in Euskera, if we want to go all Basque. I feel sorry for Tom having never been to the San Mames, thankfully dear reader, I have seen matches at the old and new version of the stadium. As a former resident of Bilbao and someone who covers Manchester United for a living, we should be a safe space for the coming hours. Fire in your correspondence and I will tell you where to eat and drink in Bilbao, with some football chucked in.
Right, time to play a searching 40-yard crossfield pass to Will Unwin, who’ll talk you through the rest of the morning. Bye.
Elsewhere, Nick Ames has been in Kyiv reporting on how amputee football is helping Ukraine’s war-wounded.
“It’s about emotional gain, helping them rediscover this will to live. In some cases they’re now doing something they weren’t able to before their injuries. The key thing is that we don’t kick anyone out of a team. If you want to play, come to training and let’s do it. Everyone can try, we’ll always encourage each other.”
“Both Spurs and Manchester United have reached the Europa League final in Bilbao tonight on merit, and deserve respect for doing so rather than the disdain being showered on them simply because their PL campaigns have been poor,” writes Rick Harris. “Winning the Europa League isn’t a given for PL sides just because they have bigger budgets, they still have to earn it through winning games of football against motivated teams.”
Indeed, call it “cup specialism” and enjoy it, though a Proper European Final really should have clubs from different countries in it.
Wimbledon’s Hutchinson had heart attack in match before scoring winner
The AFC Wimbledon midfielder Sam Hutchinson revealed he had a heart attack during their recent match at Grimsby in which his goal later sealed a League Two play-off place, reports PA Media.
The 35-year-old has undergone surgery to place a stent in a blocked artery after he fell ill following his side’s 1-0 win at Grimsby on 2 May. Hutchinson, whose career began at Chelsea, had a heart attack in the sixth minute but went on to play the full 90 minutes at Blundell Park, scoring the 53rd-minute winner.
It was only on the journey home that his symptoms worsened, leading him to have heart surgery. “I was experiencing a lot of pain,” he told the club website. “I got on the coach after the game, the adrenaline wore off and I started having more pains in my chest. From there we made a pit stop in Nottingham.
“We went into the hospital and they essentially told me I’d had a heart attack. I was in there for five days having tests done. A branch of an artery was blocked 75% – I had an angiogram and had a stent put in by a specialist in London who was unbelievable. I’m on the road to recovery now.”
The Dons made it through to Monday’s play-off final against Walsall, where Hutchinson will take a watching brief. However, he is already back running and is expecting to resume his career.
From the photos and broadcast footage, Bilbao, and San Mamés, look an absolute picture. In fact San Mamés is high up my list of grounds I haven’t been to but really want to, along with the likes of Dortmund, San Siro, La Bombonera and the Mestalla. Got a stadium bucket list? Share it here.
In Bilbao plenty of stories being told of circuitous routes to get there and hotels being packed out. Are we heading for a mass sleep-out event along the lines of Celtic in Seville 22 years ago?
Lots of statistical fun to be had with tonight’s final, and The Knowledge this week has gone in hard on them, asking whether tonight’s match features the worst aggregate domestic league positions of any European finalists. Relive the 1988 Uefa Cup final and more here:
All of which should get you in shape for our English Euro-finallists quiz. I got only eight and am having stern words with myself right now:
To parade or not to parade? While Liverpool prepares to welcome up to a million people on to its streets this weekend for their Premier League title festivities, Gary Neville reckons Manchester United shouldn’t do anything similar if they win tonight, as PA Media reports.
“If Manchester United win, they’ll celebrate a trophy but there will be a cautious celebration tomorrow – not by the fans, though, because they’ll obviously go crazy. Their interviews will be along the lines of them saying that they’re so happy and delighted for the fans, but it’s been a difficult season,” sniffed the former United full-back. “That will be the tone of it. I don’t think there should be a parade through the city for them winning the Europa League.”
Whatever happened to old-school cup final records? Well, Spurs have one, To Dare is to Do, written by Oscar-winning singer songwriters an producers Jimmy Napes and Paul Epworth. More a gentle swayalong number than a raucous terrace chant but a reasonable equivalent to Arsenal’s North London Forever. And proceeds all go to Noah’s Ark Hospice in Barnet.
Guardiola threatens to quit over squad size: An interesting line from Pep Guardiola’s post-match presser last night, the Manchester City manager threatening to quit unless his squad’s size is reduced. Guardiola feels it’s unfair on those members of his squad denied sufficient game time. Guess he’ll never get the Chelsea gig then. Whether he’ll still say that in the midst of a mid-November injury crisis and lean run, well we’ll see.
“I said to the club I don’t want that [a bigger squad. I don’t want to leave five or six players in the freezer. I don’t want that. I will quit. Make a shorter squad, I will stay. It’s impossible for my soul to give my players in the tribune [stands] that they cannot play. Now it happened to add players immediately.
“Maybe [for] three, four months we couldn’t select 11 players, we didn’t have defenders, it was so difficult. After people come back but next season it cannot be like that. As a manager I cannot train 24 players and every time I select I have to have four, five, six stay in Manchester at home because they cannot play. This is not going to happen. I said to the club. I don’t want that.”
Preamble
Morning everyone and happy Europa League final day, whether you’re reading this on the sly at work or on a park bench in Bilbao. There’s a curious air of anticipation around this evening’s final – on the one hand it’s an absurdity, two dismal English top-flight sides flaunting the Premier League’s wealth on Basque Country streets, a damning indictment of European football’s dysfunctional, lopsided finances. Scores of much better run clubs across the continent will be looking on enviously, and perhaps bitterly.
On the other hand, cup football … isn’t it. The very randomness of teams being mostly rubbish except in one competition is part of the allure of knockout football, and it’s notable that almost everything good about this season has come in eliminator rounds, from a revitalised English FA Cup to the Inter-Barça blockbuster the other week. So let’s drink it in, as those carousing on the streets of Bilbao will be – with or without hotel rooms.
We’ll be counting down the hours to kick-off with all the latest news and buildup, as well as looking back on last night’s semi-meaningful but very emotional Premier League action, as Palace fans greeted the FA Cup for the first time and Manchester City’s home crowd serenaded Kevin De Bruyne for the last time.
In the meantime, make yourself a brew and get stuck into Jonathan Wilson’s big-match preview, David Hytner on Big Ange’s likely Spurs exit regardless, and Daniel Harris’s look at Ruben Amorim’s necessary emotional intelligence:
