Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur are the joke clubs of the Premier League but have finished in the top eight of the Europa League. Make of that what you will.
The Europa has provided some much-needed respite for the Premier League strugglers, though their European campaigns have been far from stress-free.
It feels like yesterday Erik ten Hag had to avoid defeat against FC Porto to save his job. He did and was sacked a few weeks later. The 3-3 draw in Portugal was absolute chaos. Marcus Rashford and Rasmus Hojlund put them 2-0 up but the Red Devils needed a 91st-minute Harry Maguire goal to rescue a 3-3 draw, finishing the match with 10 men after Bruno Fernandes’ second red card in a matter of days.
Man United drew their first three games in disappointing fashion but an unbeaten start is an unbeaten start at the end of the day. Ruud van Nistelrooy earned them their first win following Ten Hag’s dismissal and Ruben Amorim kept the momentum going with wins over Bodo/Glimt, Viktoria Plzen, Rangers and now FSCB.
Ruben Amorim’s side played quite well against FCSB and won the match through goals from Diogo Dalot and Kobbie Mainoo, who assisted the opener on a good night for him and academy graduates in general.
United finish the league phase with five wins, three draws and zero defeats, unlike Spurs, whose 3-0 win over Swedish side Elfsborg on Thursday helped them to a fourth-place finish after losing only once at Galatasaray.
Ange Postecoglou’s men took their time to take the lead but they deserved it when it came. What they and Big Ange did not deserve was another injury and especially not another injury to a defender.
This time it was Radu Dragusin, who landed awkwardly and was forced to come off, with Archie Gray moving back to centre-back, the poor sod. Micky van de Ven did at least return to the starting XI, in what is a monumental boost.
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Dragusin’s replacement was Dane Scarlett and the 20-year-old – who was recalled from his Oxford United loan earlier this month – scored a fine header to open his account for Spurs on his 18th appearance. It came via an outstanding Dejan Kulusevski cross as the Swede got back in the goal contributions after a couple of subpar performances due to fatigue from carrying his team-mates on his back every week.
Another youth graduate, Damola Ajayi, scored on his senior debut. What a finish it was and what an incredible moment for the 19-year-old, who made sure of the three points and Spurs’ place in the top eight of the league phase before fellow youngster Mikey Moore made it three.
Manchester United join them in the last 16 of the Europa League, while a third group of jokers in Rangers snuck an eighth-place finish with an edgy win over Union Saint-Gilloise at Ibrox.
With these three clubs finishing in the top eight of the Europa League league phase, the competition has lost all integrity.
We are kidding… ever so slightly.
It has been an extremely weird 2024/25 Europa League. Manchester United and Spurs finished third and fourth, Rangers finished eighth despite an extremely difficult schedule and being pathetic domestically, while Braga, Hoffenheim, Besiktas, Nice and Slavia Prague couldn’t even finish in a play-off spot.
In truth, Man United and Spurs should really be finding solace in the Europa League but they still faced some very handy sides. Their final league phase standing does not make much sense considering their Premier League woes.
Spurs are second-bottom in the Premier League form table, while United are 13th. In the actual table, Spurs are 15th and United 12th. They have been absolutely atrocious. One rightly changed their manager and the other is refusing to do so despite walking on the thinnest of ice above an actual relegation battle.
Unfortunately for Postecoglou and Amorim, it is time to focus on domestic football for a while. That is possibly even more daunting news for Rangers, who would probably be unbeaten in all competitions this season if every match was played on a Thursday night.
They seem to come alive under the lights in Europe and that has been the case for a few years now, reaching the final of this competition three years ago. In the Scottish Premiership, they have been nothing short of a joke, with one Celtic hand already on the trophy.
Their progression straight through to the last 16 is more damning than Spurs and Man United’s, which is still pretty damning to the Europa’s reputation.
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