Fans Basque in final glory

FOR EUROPA LEAGUE SILVERWARE

- BY PHIL CARDY

DELIRIOUS Spurs fans took to the streets of Bilbao last night to celebrate the club's first major trophy for 17 years.

As Tottenham and Manchester United battled it out for the UEFA Europa League trophy - and a lucrative place in the Champions League next season - it took a Welshman to separate the struggling English sides with his scrappy goal settling a scrappy game.

Winger Brennan Johnson scrambled the ball home in the 42nd minute for the North London club, whose motto is “To dare is to do’. Spurs had made it to the final despite losing three games on the way, with Australian manager Ange Postecoglou under pressure following a disappointing league campaign.

An estimated 80,000 supporters from both clubs had travelled to northern Spain, where the country’s biggest match is Real Madrid v Barcelona, known locally as “El Clasico’.

With United sitting 16th in the Premier League and Spurs in 17th, cruel critics had dubbed this match “El-Crapico’ due to both team’s dire form ~ and it lived up to its billing.

But after a dismal 90 minutes and seven minutes of stoppage time, the exhausted Spurs players dropped to their knees as they finally won their first European trophy in 41 years.

Many supporters had travelled to the Basque city without tickets, causing a headache for local authorities — but the occasion seemed to pass without any major incidents.

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