United News of Bangladesh

Clashes between fans of Tottenham and Manchester United have been reported ahead of the Europa League final in Spain on Wednesday. Confrontations took place in the center of Bilbao and in some nearby cities where many of the supporters were staying to avoid overpriced accommodation in the host city, AP reports. More than 50,000 English fans were expected in the Basque Country city of Bilbao, according to local officials. Europa League final: It's all or nothing for Man United and Tottenham There were no reports of serious injuries in the confrontations, which happened mostly overnight as fans arrived. Images reproduced by Spanish media showed the supporters clashing on the streets of Bilbao, with some throwing tables, trash bins, bottles and other objects at each other. There were also reports of confrontations in San Sebastian and Santander, other Basque Country cities filled with English fans, many without tickets for the final. UEFA this week warned fans about buying unauthorized tickets that were unlikely to get them into the stadium. The clubs were each allocated 15,000 tickets in the 50,000-capacity venue, with some priced at just 40 euros ($45). Prices in the thousands of euros have been demanded on secondary ticketing websites.

Despite both sides struggling in the lower half of the Premier League table, they now stand just one match away from Champions League qualification — the prize awaiting the Europa League winners. The two underperforming English clubs booked their spots in the final of Europe's secondary competition on Thursday. Manchester United cruised to a 4-1 win over Athletic Bilbao at Old Trafford in the semifinal second leg, completing a dominant 7-1 aggregate victory. Tottenham secured their place with a 2-0 away win against Bodø/Glimt, progressing 5-1 on aggregate. This sets the stage for another all-English Europa League final — the first since Chelsea defeated Arsenal in 2019 to claim the trophy. “If we don’t win the final, it means nothing for us,” said United manager Ruben Amorim. “Managing this club is difficult to put into words. Our fans deserve something, especially after such a disappointing league season.” BCL Football: PWD SC maintain top slot beating Farashganj SC by 1-0 goal In their comeback win over Bilbao, United overturned a 1-0 halftime deficit with Mason Mount scoring twice after coming on as a substitute. Casemiro and Rasmus Højlund also found the net. Tottenham's goals in Norway came courtesy of Dominic Solanke and Pedro Porro, ensuring a comfortable progression to the final. The final is in Bilbao on May 21. “It’s an unbelievable feeling,” Spurs defender Micky van de Ven said. “We’ve had a tough season, but we’re one game away from winning silverware.” A major title, alone, would be enough to salvage what has otherwise been a season to forget for both United and Spurs. But the added prize of a place in the lucrative Champions League would put the winner back among Europe’s elite next term. That hasn’t looked likely for either team for most of the campaign as they have languished closer to the relegation zone than the top five. United is 15th in the standings having lost a club record 16 games in the Premier League. It is also certain to record its worst-ever points total in the modern era, as well as its lowest finish. For Tottenham, it’s even worse — sitting one place below United after a club record-equaling 19 losses in the Premier League. Now, one of those teams has the chance to effectively erase their woeful domestic form by winning the final, which will be the fourth time they have faced each other this season. Spurs won all three of the previous encounters — twice in the league and also in the English League Cup. “We are struggling, both of us, so I don’t know what is going to happen,” Amorim said. “That is a good thing and a bad thing with this team. I never know.” Mount double United’s two-legged victory over Bilbao defied its performances for most of the season, which saw former coach Erik ten Hag fired in October and his replacement, Amorim, oversee 12 losses in 24 league games. Bilbao, fourth in the Spanish league, trailed 3-0 from the first leg but mounted a fightback through Mikel Jauregizar’s curling long-range shot in the 31st minute at Old Trafford. There were signs of nerves in United’s play as the visitors applied more pressure, but the introduction of Mount in the 62nd turned the game. He spun and curled a low shot past Bilbao goalkeeper Julen Agirrezabala 10 minutes after coming on. Casemiro headed United in front in the 79th and Hojlund scored from close range in the 85th. Mount got his second when he spotted Agirrezabala off his line in the first minute of stoppage time and fired home from near the halfway line. It is United’s third Europa League final in eight years, having won the competition in 2017. United won the FA Cup last year and the League Cup in 2023 and this would be a third trophy-winning season in a row. It would also be Amorim’s first for the club after winning two Portuguese league titles with Sporting Lisbon. He described it as “massive.” “For me it’s the most important because it’s the next one,” he said.        

So much for Arsenal being one of the elite soccer clubs in Europe. Three weeks after being among the instigators of the controversially closed-off and ultimately ill-fated Super League, the English team is facing the ignominy of being shut out of continental competition for the first time in 25 years. A failure to overturn a 2-1 deficit against Villarreal in the Europa League semifinals on Thursday would end Arsenal’s quarter-century run of participating in either the Champions League or UEFA’s secondary club competitions. Such a degrading of status would be ironic, considering the planned Super League — devised and then aborted within a chaotic 48-hour period last month — would have positioned Arsenal as one of 12 elite teams in the European game. The significance of the match against Villarreal, likely to be played against the backdrop of more fan protests against Arsenal’s American ownership for its involvement in the Super League project, isn’t lost on Mikel Arteta. “It is a big moment,” the Arsenal manager said. “Not for me but for the club, for everything that has happened in the last two years, in the last months, and for all the instability that we have been hit with for many different reasons. “I think it will be really important, and a big step forward, if we are able to be in that final and have the opportunity to win that trophy.” It’s not just Arteta’s future that could be on the line on Thursday. Arsenal’s ability to attract players for next season, and to retain the services of its own best players, might hinge on winning the Europa League and gaining the bonus prize of qualifying for next season’s Champions League. Otherwise, it’s out of Europe, a situation Arsenal hasn’t been in since the 1995-96 season — a year that fell between the storied managerial eras of George Graham and Arsene Wenger. For Arteta, that would be unacceptable. “But it’s the reality,” he said. “It’s not what we want, obviously, but there are a lot of things that have happened in that period for many reasons. “One is the level has been raised to a standard that is unprecedented in the (Premier League) and we are not the only club that has been out of that. But obviously no one accepts that situation and we want to change it straightaway. This season, we have the opportunity to do that.” Arteta delivered the FA Cup to Arsenal in August, at the end of his first season at the club, but his position would be uncertain should his team be eliminated by Villarreal, which — adding to the weight of the occasion — is coached by Unai Emery. Emery is a Spaniard who replaced Wenger at Arsenal in May 2018, following the Frenchman’s nearly 22 years in the job. He lasted only 18 months. Arteta said the success of this season will now be determined by winning the Europa League or not. “It will be judged like this,” he said. “How good or bad job you are doing is judged by many factors by different people. Externally, it’s only when you win or lose. That is the defining moment.” Arteta’s big players need to step up against Villarreal and there’s no one bigger in the team than captain Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, who declared upon signing a three-year deal in September that he wanted to become an “Arsenal legend.” That hasn’t materialized, because of a mixture of off-field issues — he recently contracted malaria, and also took time off in February when his mother became seriously ill — and poor form, which he partially put down to struggling to get fired up for matches because of the lack of fans in stadiums. Aubameyang, whose season tally of 15 goals in all competitions is way down on what he typically delivers, said Wednesday he owes Arteta a big performance. “I have to give something back to the club and the fans who are awaiting something from me,” the striker said on a video call. “This is the right moment to show I am capable of doing it.”