Man Utd Spurs & Chelsea all on track to reach European finals reaction

By Faith Barbara N Ruhinda updated at 1357 EAT on Friday 2 May 2025

Should Manchester United and Tottenham meet in the Europa League final, it could well be a historic moment for the competition – for all the wrong reasons.

Since the Europa League was rebranded in 2009-2010, no team to play in the final or win the competition has finished lower than 12th in their domestic league.

United are currently 14th and Spurs are 16th in the Premier League.

Since 2014-15, the winners of the Europa League have been awarded a place in the following season’s Champions League.

Sevilla two seasons ago were the lowest domestic team (12th) to take up a place in the Champions League as Europa League winners…so far.

No country’s teams have ever won the Champions League, Europa League and Conference League in the same season – albeit the Conference League is only in its fourth year.

England and Spain could still achieve that this season, but Manchester United’s 3-0 victory at Athletic Bilbao makes a Premier League clean sweep a more realistic proposition.

It’s always a real worry when players go down with no reaction. If they are muscle injuries, then James Maddison and Dominic Solanke aren’t playing the second leg because it’s too close to get them ready for that and they have to have one eye on the final and prepare for that.

Those two players have been so influential, Maddison starting to come into form, getting goals in Europe has been really good for him this season and Solanke – his energy and running and determination up front is really such a huge part of how Tottenham play.

So, it’s two massive players that they have to get back.

Richarlison wasn’t injured, it was just a tactical thing. He did a great job for us in the first half, exactly what we needed him to do, but we thought the game would open up in the second half and we got Mathys [Tel] on for that.

Madders felt a tweak in his knee, but it doesn’t sound like it’s anything serious, and Dom something similar in his quad. Both of them didn’t feel it was anything too significant, but thought it was wise just to take them off at that point.

Tottenham manager Ange Postecoglou says it is “too early to assess” Lucas Bergvall’s ankle injury after revealing that the Sweden midfielder “tweaked” his right ankle in training on Wednesday.

The 19-year-old summer signing, who extended his contract to 2031 on Wednesday, attended Thursday night’s Europa League quarter-final and was pictured at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium walking with crutches and a protective boot on his right foot.

His injury was not mentioned in Wednesday’s pre-match news conference, but Postecoglou gave a cautious update after Spurs’ 3-1 win against Bodo/Glimt

He had a big week, re-signing [a contract] with the club and he’s had such a great year for us.

It’s just the way our season’s gone, where in training something innocuous like that ends up with him hurting his ankle. We’ll just assess over the next few days, let it settle down and we’ll find the extent of it

Despite Manchester United’s domestic form, boss Ruben Amorim says they can win a European trophy this season.

Since Amorim took charge in November, United have now won more games in the Europa League (7 in 9 games) than in the Premier League (6 in 23).

United have also only scored three goals fewer under Amorim in European competition (24) than in the league (27), and they are the Europa League’s top scorers this season (31) – they had four games under Erik ten Hag and interim boss Ruud van Nistelrooy, scoring seven goals.

Nottingham Forest’s Champions League hopes are hanging in the balance after another damaging defeat.

Nuno Espirito Santo’s side have lost three of their last four Premier League outings, while also losing 2-0 to Manchester City in Sunday’s FA Cup semi final.

They have slipped at the wrong time having previously been so consistent. Forest were caught out by two long balls against the Bees with the usually reliable Nikola Milenkovic certainly at fault for the second.

Forest have recovered from setbacks before this season, successive defeats to Fulham and Newcastle in February were followed by a draw with Arsenal and wins over Manchester City, Ipswich and Manchester United.

Yet, with four games left Forest’s top five future is no longer certain. Although their final game of the season against Chelsea could become a top-five shoot-out.

If Manchester United and Tottenham both progress through the Europa League semi-finals it would set up the SIXTH all English final in European competitions.

Chelsea might have struggled domestically but their dominance of the Conference League is there for everyone to see.

They topped the league stage table with six wins out of six games, scoring 26 goals and conceding just five.

With a commanding 4-1 first-leg lead to take back to Stamford Bridge, Chelsea will be confident of continuing their cruise to the Conference League final.

But who are they most likely to meet?

Well, Manuel Pellegrini’s Real Betis will take a one-goal advantage to Italy next week thanks to Antony’s wonderful volley.

Fiorentina had chances but were unable to build on Luca Ranieri’s strike midway through the second half, and that tie is delicately poised for the return leg in Florence.

Chelsea boss Enzo Maresca was full of praise for teenager Reggie Walsh when he spoke after his side’s dominant away win in the Conference League.

Chelsea have been so dominant throughout this year’s Europa Conference League that, while sweeping aside just about every team in front of them, they have also been able to use the competition to blood a number of youngsters.

The Blues have one foot in the final after a comfortable 4-1 win over Djurgarden in their semi-final first leg on Thursday – and this time it was 16-year-old Reggie Walsh’s turn to be introduced on the global stage.

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