Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur are on the verge of sealing a blockbuster all-Premier League Europa League final date in San Mames. But there’s still work to be done.
United head into the semi-final second legs with a commanding 3-0 lead over Athletic Club, while Spurs swatted aside Norwegian champions Bodo/Glimt to put one foot in the showpiece in San Mames.
Neither United nor Spurs fans have had much to cheer about this season, given their side’s performances in the Premier League.
However, many of them will have started buying their UEFA Europa League tickets on Seatsnet.com, with their clubs one step away from the big stage.
There’s a Champions League spot on the line, but only one team can get their hands on it.
While both sides will relish the chance to go head to head for the second biggest European title, their immediate focus will be on avoiding any potential slip-ups in the semi-final second legs.
Tottenham head to Norway with one foot in Europa League final
Tottenham carry a two-goal advantage into the second leg of their Europa League semi-final against Norwegian champions Glimt, as the sides meet on Thursday night at Aspmyra Stadion.
A 3-1 win in North London has given the Premier League side a strong foothold. They may have one foot in the final, but this tie is far from over.
Brennan Johnson needed less than a minute to put Spurs ahead in the first leg, and further goals from James Maddison and Dominic Solanke seemed to put the tie beyond doubt by the hour mark.
However, Ulrik Saltnes struck late for Glimt, offering a flicker of hope for the hosts ahead of their biggest night in European football. You’d expect Europa League tickets to be in high demand ahead of this clash.
Tottenham are inching closer to their first major trophy since 2008, but there are still mixed feelings around the club.
Postecoglou has been vocal about the criticism surrounding his side’s underwhelming domestic form.
With Tottenham languishing in 16th place in the Premier League standings, this European campaign has taken on even greater significance.
Tottenham’s league form has been awful – three straight defeats followed by a 1-1 draw at West Ham United last weekend left them with just 39 points from 35 games.
Their away form offers little comfort, with only two wins in their last 10 trips across all competitions.
However, they will take heart from a gritty 1-0 win away at Eintracht Frankfurt in the Europa League quarter-final, which sealed their place in the semis.
Spurs also boast a perfect record against Norwegian teams and will look to maintain that on Thursday.
Since the Europa League was rebranded in 2009, only nine teams have failed to progress after winning the first leg by two or more goals at home, so the odds are in Tottenham’s favour.
On the other side, Glimt are embracing the underdog role with pride.
Regardless of Thursday’s result, they’ve already made history by becoming the first Norwegian side to reach the semi-finals of a major European competition.
Head coach Kjetil Knutsen has urged his players to “go for it” in front of their home fans as they look to overturn the deficit and pull off one of the competition’s great shocks.
Their home form suggests they might just have a chance.
Glimt have won their last five Europa League games on home turf, scoring 15 goals. They also knocked out Serie A side Lazio via a penalty shoot-out after a 2-0 win.
Glimt also started the new Eliteserien season in flying form, winning both home games 3-0. Tottenham may be favourites, but with eight consecutive home wins and nothing to lose, Glimt won’t go quietly.
Manchester United poised to book Europa League final berth at Old Trafford
With one foot already in the final, United return to Old Trafford on Thursday night, looking to finish the job against Bilbao in the second leg of their Europa League semi-final.
Ruben Amorim’s side carry a commanding 3-0 advantage into the tie, a result earned with a ruthless first-leg performance in the Basque Country.
That dominant display stunned San Mames, a venue where Bilbao had previously won all six of their Europa League matches this season and were unbeaten across all competitions for over eight months.
Yet United tore up the script, capitalising on a first-half red card to score three times before the break.
Casemiro got United up and running before Bruno Fernandes struck twice to silence the home crowd and put the Red Devils in a powerful position.
Despite United’s strong grip on the tie, Amorim isn’t getting ahead of himself. He warned his side that “anything can happen in one game”, pointing to the unpredictability of European football.
However, the statistics are firmly on United’s side. All 133 teams in Europa League and UEFA Cup history that have won the first leg of a knockout tie by three or more goals away from home have gone on to progress.
United are also unbeaten in the competition this season (W8, D5) and could join Chelsea as the only English club to reach the final without losing a single match.
Their home form in the tournament has been reliable too. They haven’t lost a Europa League game at Old Trafford since a 1-0 defeat to Real Sociedad in September 2022.
However, domestic struggles have cast a shadow over their European run.
A dramatic 4-3 defeat to Brentford last weekend ensured United cannot finish higher than 12th in the Premier League.
With their lowest points tally of the modern era already confirmed, Europa League glory has become their only path to next season’s Champions League.
Meanwhile, Bilbao are clinging on to whatever glimmer of hope they can muster.
Not since the 2011/12 season have they reached a European final, and doing so on home turf this year would be a dream moment for the club.
But overturning a three-goal deficit at Old Trafford is a near-impossible task, especially for a side that has scored just once in their last three Europa League games and failed to find the net in six of their last nine outings overall.
Their domestic form offers little comfort. A goalless draw with Sociedad last weekend continued a run of just five wins in 14 La Liga matches, allowing Villarreal to close in on fourth place.
Head coach Ernesto Valverde admitted the difficulty of juggling European and league commitments, and unless his players rediscovered their scoring boots, their season could unravel on both fronts.
To pull off the unthinkable, Bilbao must become only the second side in major European competition history to overturn a three-goal first-leg home defeat – something Olympiakos managed just last season.
But the odds are stacked against them. They’ve lost seven of their nine visits to England in European play, and only twice before have they suffered defeats in both legs of a European knockout tie.
Bilbao’s last trip to Old Trafford in 2012 ended in a memorable 3-2 win. Repeating that result, and then some, will require a near-perfect performance – and more than a little magic.
