Man United caused a big shock in the Europa League semi-finals when they destroyed Athletic Bilbao at San Mames with a score of 3-0. Meanwhile, rated much higher than Bodo/Glimt, Tottenham did not disappoint their fans when they ended the first leg with a score of 3-1.
This is not the first time an English team struggled in the domestic tournament but extremely sublime in the European Cup. In the 2005-2006 season, Middlesbrough reached the UEFA Cup final while diving in the bottom half of the Premier League rankings (ranked 14th). They defeated AS Roma and Basel, before losing 0-4 to Sevilla in the final.
The 2009-2010 season witnessed Fulham when it was 12th in the Premier League but also in the Europa League final. On the journey to the final, before losing to Atletico Madrid, the Craven Cottage team eliminated the Juventus giant in the round of 16 teams with a score of 5-4 final.
After being destroyed by Liverpool with a score of 5-1 in round 34 of the Premier League, Tottenham certainly could not lower the Premier League this season with a position in the upper half of the rankings. This will be the first time since 2008, Spurs ended the season with the top 10 position. However, 2008 is the last year the team has an official title, which is League Cup.
Since finishing in the Top 4 in the 2009-10 season, Spurs have often finished in the Top 6 of the season. However, they have not been able to win any more titles since then (a sad record for the Big Six team). Therefore, this season's Europa League is the only salvation for the "Roosters".
Man United are no better than their home team. After round 33 of the Premier League ended, Man United officially had the worst season of this tournament era despite winning all 5 remaining rounds. However, in the Europa League, after an unimaginable comeback against Lyon, the "Red Devils" caused another earthquake when defeating Bilbao - the team considered strongest in the semi-finals with a score of 3-0 right on the away field.
Except for the favorable results in the first leg of the semi-final, if we consider financial potential, the two English teams are having a gap between Bilbao and Bodo/Glimt. According to Deloitte, Man United's revenue last season was 655 million pounds, ranking 4th globally. Tottenham's revenue is £523 million (ranked 9th). The 3rd richest team in the Europa League this season is Lyon with 224 million pounds in revenue, ranked only 20th.
Man United and Tottenham fans were tired of watching their favorite teams every weekend in the Premier League and left with a score of defeat. At this time, they will see with a different mindset, see what experiment Ruben Amorim and Ange Postecoglou will experiment with to aim for the second leg of the semi-final, possibly the Europa League final.
Currently, Arsenal is the team that lost the most among the 4 English teams in the semi-finals of 3 European Cups. However, if they can beat PSG in the second leg of the Champions League semi-final, the prospect of English teams dominating all European cups is present.
