Football Daily | The joke is about to be on everyone bar Spurs or Manchester United

11 hours ago 6

THE FULL ENGLISH

Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur have given Football Daily plenty of ammunition over the years, but with both sealing their place in a European final on Thursday with comfortable victories in their respective semi-finals, this is not meant to be a snide missive about their latest achievements. Sure, Athletic Club can only recruit players from an area the size of Wales, were missing their first-choice centre-back Dani Vivian through suspension, their best three attacking players through injury (Iñaki and Nico Williams, plus Oihan Sancet), were 3-0 down from the first leg and still gave United’s band of global internationals a frightful scare by taking a first-half lead at Old Trafford. But fair play to United, they roared back in the second half, and ended as comfortable winners, 4-1 on the night and 7-1 on aggregate. In reaching the final, Ruben Amorim has a real and tangible reason to be proud of his team, and it’s also nice to see Mason Mount being good at football again.

And sure, Bodø/Glimt’s total transfer spend last summer (€7m) was just over 10% of the fee Tottenham paid for Dominic Solanke (Bodø also sold players last summer for a total of €18.6m, a profit of more than €11m), and the Norwegians’ stadium has a capacity that would make them the 16th largest ground in League Two, but genuine credit should be given to Spurs for succeeding in the Arctic Circle where others have failed – this season Porto, Besiktas, Maccabi Tel Aviv, Olympiakos and Lazio have all been beaten by Bodø in Bigger Vase. Tottenham put in a professional display and deserve their place in the final. Chapeau.

Ange Postecoglou has a big opportunity now to do one of the least Spursy things of all time by winning this major trophy, a result that would also probably mean the Australian keeps his job and delivers on that much-mocked promise of flamin’ silverware in his second season. “If it’s so easy to get to a final, then why doesn’t everyone who finishes in the top three do it?” barked Postecoglou. “It’s going to upset a lot of people isn’t it? Who cares if we’re struggling in the league? It’s a separate thing. It’s got nothing to do with league form. I couldn’t care less who’s struggling and who’s not. I think both us and Manchester United have earned the right to be there.

“I love winning,” continued Postecoglou, ignoring his own comments on Spurs’ league form in the paragraph above. “That’s what I’ve done my whole career. People will dismiss it, that’s fine. We’ve been losing players, key players, and yet they’ve still found a way to stick together. That gives me the belief that the challenge we have of trying to overcome a tough opponent in a massive game.” At least the two finalists will be evenly matched. Despite their much maligned Premier League campaigns, Manchester United (15th) and Tottenham (16th) are just one game away from a European trophy and the riches of Bigger Cup qualification. Just think how many Old Trafford staff lunches that could potentially pay for. Tottenham might even be able to renew Fraser Forster’s £75,000-a-week contract. From the bottom of Football Daily’s can of Tin, good luck to both teams in the final.

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QUOTE OF THE DAY

“It’s not the moment to talk about the future. Now we know, we want to have a proper farewell on Sunday for some players and for myself. We have to enjoy this moment with mixed emotions. We can be happy and proud of what we have achieved during this time. I’m very thankful from the first day to the last one. You’ve got the announcement finally after chasing it” – Xabi Alonso announces his departure from Bayer Leverkusen at the end of the season (and has a jab at hacks doing their jobs), paving the way for a widely expected move to Real Madrid.

Xabi Alonso announces he is leaving Bayer Leverkusen

Re: yesterday’s Football Daily. Can I suggest that after Arsenal provide a guard of honour on Sunday, Liverpool repay the compliment twice to acknowledge the titles Arsenal would have won in the last two seasons if it wasn’t for the pesky ‘team with the greatest number of points is first’ nonsense?” – Dominic Hodgson.

One point that yesterday’s Football Daily omitted – Arsenal got further in Bigger Cup than rivals Liverpool, Aston Villa, and Manchester City. I rather suspect that Mikel Arteta would be mildly pleased if you now referred to the semi-finals as the new ‘Round of Arsenal’” – Mike Wilner.

Apologies to anyone who watched Salford (yesterday’s Class of 25, full email edition) in the Northern Premier back in the day, but Salford City? Salford City? The answer to the problems with football in that area of Manchester is Salford City? I’m no fan of FC United, to be honest (the angst is wearing), but if jaded millionaires really wanted to make a statement and pose an existential crisis to the club that made them and yet is tanking under a leveraged buyout, there was one obvious choice. But no, they went for the vanity-stroking path of high fives with Tom Brady and Ryan Reynolds in a dull Netflix documentary about the Championship playoff struggle. Tell me, one Salford fan, that you view United as an actual rival, and don’t just check your phone for updates about Josuha Zirkzee” – Jon Millard.

Send letters to [email protected]. Today’s prizeless letter o’ the day winner is … Dominic Hodgson. Terms and conditions for our competitions, when we run them, can be viewed here.