So there will be no Champions League football for Manchester United. No £100million. No barbecue, it’s fair to assume.
Ruben Amorim and his players went to the place they call The Cathedral hoping for some salvation from this strangest of seasons and found only damnation at the San Mames last night.
A final befitting two of the poorest teams in the Premier League ended with United facing a season without European football for only the second time in 35 years.
Ruben Amorim might think that isn’t the worst thing in the world. More time to work with his players. Fewer midweek distractions.
But for Sir Jim Ratcliffe and the members of the Glazer family who joined him in Bilbao last night it leaves a gaping hole in the budget and a big dent in the pride of this football club.
Amorim said afterwards that United have ‘two plans’ in the transfer market and they will now be working to lower of those two budgets.
Ruben Amorim made two huge calls for the Europa League final; both failed to pay off
Ange Postecoglou’s side return home to north London with a piece of silverware at long last
The defeat leaves a gaping hole in the budget and a big dent in the pride of this football club
At the end of United’s worst Premier League season, even the consolation of winning the Europa League proved beyond them. A total of 20 defeats in all competitions is the most since they were relegated in 1974.
Tottenham could get another one over on United this Sunday by moving above them on the final day of the season to leave Amorim’s side one place above the drop zone. That prospect of that post-season tour of Malaysia and Hong Kong seems worse than ever.
Spurs did a number on United here. They won without having a single shot on target. But Amorim’s side simply weren’t good enough. By the end, there was the familiar sight of Harry Maguire playing as an emergency striker and Leny Yoro firing hopelessly over the bar.
Amorim has to take his share of the blame. This was a night to get the big calls right, and it’s fair to say he came up short. Of his two bold selection decisions, neither worked out.
Luke Shaw, starting on the left-side of a back three even though he only made his first start in more than 14 months on April 27, had an unfortunate hand in the goal that put Tottenham in the driving seat.
Mason Mount, picked ahead of Alejandro Garnacho on the left despite only making his first start of the year on May 4, was practically anonymous in a game that was as scrappy as the goal itself.
You could understand Amorim playing Shaw, but he looked shaky long before he tried to challenge Brennan Johnson for Pape Sarr’s cross and helped to turn the ball past Andre Onana. It was the kind of mistake you would expect from player still lacking in match sharpness after so long out with injuries.
Amorim’s decision to start Mount was more contentious. United’s head coach has made no secret of how much he admires the 26-year-old. Starting him ahead of Garnacho at Chelsea on Friday night felt significant and so it proved as he got the nod again.
Mason Mount was picked on the left despite only making his first start of the year on May 4
Alejandro Garnacho chatted at length with Tottenham’s Sergui Reguilon ahead of the match
The star posted an image of him scoring in last season’s FA Cup final just hours before kick-off
Brennan Johnson scored the only goal of the game to seal Tottenham’s historic victory
Amad Diallo has been a very rare success story for Amorim in a desperately poor campaign
Garnacho is a young man not averse to making his feelings known on social media, and a picture of him celebrating scoring United’s opening goal in last season’s FA Cup final against Manchester City posted on Wednesday afternoon suddenly took on greater meaning.
Sporting a new platinum hair-do, he replaced Mount for the last 18 minutes of regulation time but wasn’t able to turn the game back in United’s favour.
Amorim was unrepentant afterwards. ‘How many times we had this conversation?’ he asked.
‘Mason Mount came in against Bilbao (in the semi-finals) and changed the game. Who missed big opportunity in the first half against Bilbao? Garnacho. Football is like that. I look at the game and try to manage things.’
Nights like this will do nothing to quell speculation that Garnacho could on his way this summer if United get another offer. He is worth 100 per cent profit on the balance sheet to a club even more desperate for money after missing out on a £100million Champions League jackpot.
With Matheus Cunha expected to become a United player in the near future, Mount and Amad Diallo appear more likely than Garnacho to stay and compete with the Brazilian for the two No.10 spots in Amorim’s system.
Diallo was United’s best player last night, tormenting Destiny Udogie and going closest to a goal before half-time with a shot past the far post.
Rasmus Hojlund, desperately disappointing again, went even closer when his header was cleared off the line by Micky van de Ven and at that moment it felt like Tottenham’s night.
United have found some unlikely heroes in this competition, but there was no escape last night, no repeat of the Lyon miracle, as they chose the worst time to lose in Europe for the first time.
