Tottenham end long trophy drought as dismal Man Utd beaten in Europa League final

Tottenham Hotspur's 17-year trophy drought is over after Spurs emerged victorious from .

Brennan Johnson smuggled the ball over the line three minutes before half-time for the only goal of a desperately poor final, in which failed to inspire.

The closest Ruben Amorim's side came to a goal was through a Rasmus Hojlund header which was superbly cleared off the line by Micky van de Ven, who stood tall as Spurs delivered a trophy to the delight of their often-criticised manager Ange Postecoglou.

The Australian wore a delighted grin as he lived up to his promise of winning a trophy in his second season and earned qualification, with United left crestfallen and without European football of any kind next season.

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There was a fairly frantic feel to the opening proceedings in Bilbao, where the do-or-die nature of the game - a match which would serve as a season-saver for the winner, and condemn the loser to one of their worst campaigns in living memory - was leading the sides 16th and 17th in the toward a somewhat manic approach.

Johnson was denied by Andre Onana from a tight angle, before the Welshman's team-mate Richarlison had a shot blocked.

At the other end Guglielmo Vicario flapped at a corner, with Amad Diallo picking up the loose ball and flashing a fierce drive across the face of goal and beyond the United attackers.

That early promise then largely disappeared from the game though, and it became bogged down in a deep lack of quality full of errors on both sides. Hopes for a goal centred on either a piece of inspiration or a mistake, and three minutes before half-time the latter arrived.

Fernandes gave the ball away to Pape Sarr, and after the Senegalese briefly loaned it to Richarlison and Rodrigo Bentancur he swung in a cross towards the darting Johnson, who swiped and flailed at it just enough to discomfort Shaw.

The ball struck the United defender's arm and dropped towards goal, seemingly via the faintest touch from Johnson, with Onana unable to claw it away. Goal. Not the prettiest one you've ever seen in a European final, but Spurs didn't care.

They had something to hold on to now, but while they would have perhaps expected an onslaught at the start of the second half one never really arrived. Attempts to progress the ball ended up being stifled by the hard-working Spurs midfield and wide players, and the game remained scrappy beyond the hour mark.

United weren't creating anything, and indeed their most dangerous outlet was proving to be Vicario. The Spurs goalkeeper got in a muddle with Dominic Solanke from a Fernandes free-kick, but Hojlund's goalbound header was acrobatically and brilliantly cleared off the line by Van de Ven.

Ruben Amorim eventually turned to his bench to introduce Joshua Zirkzee and Alejandro Garnacho, and suddenly there was a greater threat going forward. Fernandes headed just wide and you knew more chances were coming.

Garnacho brought a sharp stop from Vicario but it was all so poor from United, and as moved into the centre-forward position as an act of desperation, Vicario saved well late on from .

Spurs eventually emerged as winners of the slugfest, and will quickly forget just how they did it.

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