Two days after Brennan Johnson’s 42nd-minute winner in Bilbao fired Spurs to a 1-0 victory over Manchester United, the players to end a 17-year trophy drought were back in north London.

Tottenham’s Europa League heroes were serenaded by thousands of fans as the club’s open-top bus parade started at Edmonton Green.

Two days after Brennan Johnson’s 42nd-minute winner in Bilbao fired Spurs to a 1-0 victory over Manchester United, the players to end a 17-year trophy drought were back in north London.

A white double-decker bus with “Europa League winners” written across the front was stationary for a lengthy period of time before it started to move down the High Road at 5.30pm to chants of “glory, glory Tottenham Hotspur” from supporters young and old.

An estimated 150,000 fans were expected to swarm on areas around Tottenham Hotspur Stadium for a parade expected to last around 90 minutes and that will see the bus pass by the club’s 62,850-seater venue.

This is Spurs’ first trophy parade since a 1991 FA Cup win and club greats were on hand to reflect on the achievements of the class of ’25 before the team bus started to slowly move down the High Road.

Graham Roberts scored a crucial goal the last time Tottenham claimed European success in the 1984 UEFA Cup and backed Ange Postecoglou’s side to chase more silverware now.

Roberts said: “This will give them belief now. All that pressure that was there, that’s gone.

“We have to strengthen our squad, but I think we have a great bunch of boys.

“They love Ange, they went round him, they cuddled him, they wanted him in the photos. The team spirit is there.

“We’ll get more now, the rest will come. Wednesday was one of the greatest nights. I had tears in my eyes.

“We were in the fan park, me and Ledley (King). The fans were magnificent. They deserve it. I just hope we get a team on the pitch on Sunday.”

Defender Micky van de Ven said: “Unbelievable man. Yeah I slept a little bit (in the last 48 hours).

“Emotional, so emotional. The season we’ve had, it was so difficult, but we got the trophy and we’re so happy. I’m so proud of the boys.

“If you experience this, you want to do it over and over again. We’re going to try to do the same beautiful things next season.”

Irishexaminer.com

Amid the celebrations that followed Tottenham’s Europa League triumph, three players were left waiting for their winner’s medal.

Manager Ange Postecoglou was first to receive a medal from Uefa president Aleksander Ceferin following the 1-0 win over Manchester United.

Injured trio James Maddison, Timo Werner and Lucas Bergvall and Will Lankshear – who spent the second half of the season on loan at West Brom – were also in the line and had a medal draped around their neck.

However, club captain Son Heung-min, Cristian Romero and Rodrigo Bentancur weren’t so lucky and had to wait until they got into the dressing room to get theirs.

“To our great displeasure, we did not have enough medals available on stage during the trophy ceremony presentation due to an unexpected discrepancy in the player count, as more team members – including injured players – participated in the ceremony than initially anticipated,” Uefa said.

“The missing medals were promptly delivered to the winning team in the dressing room, along with our sincerest apologies for the oversight.”

According to Uefa’s rules, both the winning and losing teams are presented with 50 medals each.

It is at the discretion of the club as to how those medals are distributed between players and staff.

Uefa had prepared 30 medals to hand out on the pitch prior to Spurs lifting their first piece of silverware in 17 years.

But as well as Tottenham’s 23-man matchday squad and the manager, several members of the team who were unavailable to feature also took part in the ceremony.

Son, as skipper, was waiting patiently at the back of the line so he could collect the trophy and take it to his team-mates before lifting it into the air.

The South Korea forward had to make do with just a hug from Ceferin but he was later seen sporting a winner’s medal – the first he has picked up in his senior career at club or international level.

Bbc.com

Brennan Johnson’s bundled first-half goal helped Tottenham Hotspur win a scrappy Europa League final 1-0 against Manchester United on Wednesday as they cast aside their domestic woes to earn a berth in next year’s Champions League. It was Spurs’ first silverware since the 2008 League Cup and their first European trophy since 1984.

Brennan Johnson’s scrambled goal ended a 17-year Tottenham trophy drought with a battling 1-0 win over Manchester United in the Europa League final on Wednesday.

Spurs, who had not won European silverware since 1984, will play in next season’s Champions League, while failing to qualify for it is a severe financial set-back for Manchester United.

Despite their triumph in Bilbao, manager Ange Postecoglou’s future is still on the line following a shambolic domestic campaign, with Spurs sitting a place below United in the lower reaches of the Premier League table.

The Australian furiously insisted he was “not a clown” on the eve of the final and had the last laugh on a nerve-racking night at the San Mames, as he made good on his claim to always win a trophy in his second season in charge of a club.

“This is what it’s all about, this club hasn’t won a trophy for 17 years, honestly, this is what it means, it means so much,” Wales winger Johnson told TNT Sports.

“Ever since I came here it’s been (people saying) ‘Tottenham are a good team, but they never get it done’ — we got it done!”

Fans came from far and wide to pack Athletic Bilbao’s stadium, some taking quite preposterous routes and sleeping in cars to avoid eye-watering prices, but they could not escape a final lacking in quality.

It was a match between teams languishing in 16th and 17th place respectively after dismal Premier League campaigns and that was the essence of it too, played at high intensity but with low confidence, and a prize on the line so big it overawed.

There were a large number of turnovers, neither side keeping the ball with any ease, moves ending in panicked defending and balls being thumped to safety, or a litany of clumsy fouls.

Harry Maguire blocked well from Tottenham’s Pape Sarr early on after Johnson nipped in ahead of Luke Shaw to break in down the right.

Manchester United fans chanted Ruben Amorim’s name, backing their Portuguese coach despite the club’s worst Premier League season in half a century.

At the other end, 22-year-old United winger Amad Diallo, one of the few players high on self-belief, flashed a shot across goal and then left Destiny Udogie spinning, trying in vain to find him as he dribbled past.

Spurs made the breakthrough after 42 minutes and, perhaps fittingly, it came in the form of an extremely scrappy goal.

Tottenham midfielder Sarr, who had completed just a single pass to this point, curled in a cross to the near post for Johnson.

The winger’s attempted flick bounced off Shaw’s shoulder, brushed Johnson’s boot again and crossed the goal-line in slow motion with Andre Onana unable to claw it out with a desperate arm.

Defending deep

Spurs sat back in the second half, trying to protect their slender advantage and look for opportunities to strike again on the counter-attack.

They nearly found one when Yves Bissouma played in Dominic Solanke, but the striker could not control the pass and the chance went to waste.

Manchester United almost equalised when Tottenham goalkeeper Guglielmo Vicario came off his line but failed to claim a set-piece pounded forward from deep.

The ball dropped for Rasmus Hojlund but his header over the stranded Spurs stopper was sensationally cleared in acrobatic fashion by Micky van de Ven.

Spurs sent on captain Son Heung-min for the ragged Richarlison, with the South Korean international a surprising non-starter.

Manchester United turned to Alejandro Garnacho and Joshua Zirkzee to try and dig them out of their hole, but fell to a fourth defeat against Spurs this season.

Shaw had a chance to redeem himself at the end for his part in Johnson’s goal but his header was pushed to safety by Vicario.

Manchester United and Tottenham both qualify in all-English Europa League final

Amorim said winning the trophy would not solve United’s many deep-lying problems but could set the club up well for the future, however United leave Bilbao without even that.

For the first time since the 2014-15 season they will not play European football next term.

France24.com