[Tottenham Hotspur Flag. Photo credit to Pixabay]

After 17 long years, Tottenham finally won the 2024-2025 UEFA Europa League against Manchester United, lifting the trophy in victory. 

However, the quality of the match has brought certain backlashes against their performance.

Tottenham Hotspur — a prominent English football club — has been going through a depressing season.

Despite having world-class players including James Maddison, Son Heung-min, and many more, Tottenham has failed to win a trophy since their last victory in the 2008 EFL Cup.

Their last continental trophy was from the Europa League 1984 – a startling 41 years ago.

Son Heung-min, a Korean professional football player, joined Tottenham in 2015 at the age of 22 and has failed to win a significant tournament despite multiple attempts.

This included losing two major finals: the 2019 UEFA Champions League and the 2021 English Football League Cup.

However, all of this changed with this game. 

The final took place on May 22nd at  Estadio San Mamés in Bilbao, Spain.

The first goal came at the 42nd minute from Brennan Johnson. 

With no further development, the game ended with Tottenham’s 1-0 win. 

Fans screamed. 

Cities shook as the long waiting Tottenham fans expressed their joy.

The moment the whistle signaled the end of the game, Tottenham players fell to their knees screaming in joy.

Son erupted in tears, hugging his teammates. 

When Son finally lifted the trophy, the moment was engraved in history forever.

Son has been facing a title drought, failing to score crucial goals or win significant trophies despite his stellar reputation.

This game ended that and proved his value once more.

After the game, Son requested the Korean flag and wrapped it around himself, showing his devotion to his hometown.

Son later said in an interview, "This is what I've always dreamed of. Today is the day it happened. I am the happiest person in the world right now."

Ironically, despite this being a miraculous win for Tottenham, the quality of the match brought disappointment to the fans.

During the entire game, both teams showed poor gameplay.

Tottenham had a shocking total of three shots, one shot on target, 26% possession, 184 passes, and a 60% pass completion rate.

This was their all-time low.

Manchester United, known as a powerhouse of Europe, had 16 shots, six shots on target, 74% possession, 514 passes, and an 84% pass completion rate.

Fans expressed their anger calling it the “worst final ever” on various social media platforms. 

Even former players admitted the poor quality. 

Former Manchester United striker and current pundit Michael Owen said in an interview, "I can't believe the level of play is this bad. Neither team has been able to consolidate three or more passes."

The Sun, a sports news outlet, commented: 'Despite the hype over the clash between two giants of the Premier League, this final was lacking in both performance and entertainment value. Tottenham fans might not care, but the scoring was subpar. The only highlight was Micky van de Ven’s acrobatic save against Rasmus Højlund’s header.

Both teams ended the season with extremely low Premier League rankings of  15th and 17th place respectively.

Tottenham’s next match is against Arsenal on July 31st, while Manchester United faces Leicester United on July 19th.

Fans are now hoping to see an improvement in the following matches.