Europa League final: Disaster clubs go head to head | OneFootball

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇩🇪 here.

Tonight is the Europa League final: Tottenham Hotspur vs Manchester United. On paper, it looks like a high-profile duel between two Premier League top clubs. But if you look a little closer (not to mention: at the table), you’ll see that it’s actually the two biggest disappointments of England’s top league facing off. Sixteenth place against seventeenth place.

So before this memorably poor final, we’re taking a little disaster tourism tour through the shocking Premier League seasons of these two crisis clubs. Even though the current Premier League table leaves little room for interpretation, the following facts illustrate just how bad things really are for today’s finalists.

1. United have already suffered 18 defeats this season, while Tottenham have even racked up 21. What did they used to call it, Mr. Beckenbauer? “Cup of the…”

2. In the 37 league games so far, United have not managed to win two games in a row even once. That has never happened before in the club’s history over the course of an entire season. Tottenham, on the other hand, did at least manage a three-game winning streak between matchdays 24 and 26. The opponent in the connecting victory on matchday 25: of course, Manchester United.

3. Serious goal drought: At Tottenham, thanks to Harry Kane, fans are used to a striker who scores over 20 goals a season. This season, their best number nine, Dominic Solanke, has only managed eight goals in the Premier League. United’s best striker, Rasmus Højlund, has just four.

4. United have failed to score in a total of 15 Premier League games this season, Tottenham in nine.

5. With 42 goals in 37 games so far, United have scored seven fewer goals than Bundesliga relegated side Holstein Kiel did in 34 games.

6. Tottenham have spent a total of €175.35 million on transfers this season. For that amount, you could buy the entire Union Berlin squad, who have picked up eight more points in 34 games this season than Tottenham have in 37, and you’d still have €62.17 million left over.

7. Alex Ferguson usually only looks like this in the stands at United games:

📸 GLYN KIRK - AFP or licensors

8. The mood at United is currently so bad that, in the event of a win in the Europa League final, no victory parade through Manchester on an open-top bus has been planned. Instead, according to the ‘BBC’, there will only be a club-internal barbecue.

9. United coach Ruben Amorim has publicly admitted that he is ashamed of the Red Devils’ season.

10. At Tottenham, coach Ange Postecoglou has actually had to clarify to journalists that he is not a clown.

In the final in Bilbao, only one truly hopeless season can be saved in the end. In any case, we wish both teams all the best tonight. May the better of the bad ones win!

📸 Shaun Botterill - 2025 Getty Images