A closer look at Manchester United’s route to the Europa League final

Manchester United will attempt to win a sixth European title when they take on fellow Premier League strugglers Tottenham in the Europa League final.

Here, we take a look at how they made it to the Bilbao showpiece on May 21st.

The 2024/25 #UEL league phase ✅ pic.twitter.com/BGnoQwzie1

— UEFA Europa League (@EuropaLeague) January 30, 2025

United made an inauspicious start to the new-look group phase under Erik ten Hag, whose former club Twente secured a shock 1-1 Old Trafford draw in September. Harry Maguire’s late goal saw the 10-man Red Devils record a 3-3 draw at Porto the following month, before Jose Mourinho’s Fenerbahce held them to a 1-1 stalemate in Turkey. After Ten Hag was sacked, interim boss Ruud van Nistelrooy oversaw the end of United’s 380-day wait for a European win by beating PAOK 2-0 at Old Trafford, where Ruben Amorim took charge for the first time in the hard-fought 3-2 triumph against eventual semi-finalists Bodo/Glimt. United followed that up with 2-1 wins away to Viktoria Plzen and at home to Rangers, before rounding things off with a 2-0 victory over FCSB in Romania as they avoided the knockout phase play-offs.

Enough said. pic.twitter.com/g8yQroge9Y

— Manchester United (@ManUtd) March 13, 2025

Absentee-hit United failed to turn a positive performance into victory in San Sebastian, where Joshua Zirkzee put the visitors into a deserved lead only for Mikel Oyarzabal to level from the spot with the hosts’ first shot on target. The VAR spotted a handball from Bruno Fernandes, whose second-leg hat-trick inspired an eye-catching comeback win against 10-man Real Sociedad. Oyarzabal’s second penalty of the tie had given United a scare, before the captain’s treble and a Diogo Dalot effort.

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