Manchester United aren't famous anymore? Wait for the reaction if they reach the Europa League final
How embarrassing that a team that finished 14th in the Premier League has made the Uefa Cup final. That is not a sentence anyone typed in 2006.
Middlesbrough, the seventh-worst team in England's top flight, made it all the way to Eindhoven. Unbeknownst to them, or anyone, they were about to be responsible for one of the most ardent love affairs since Brief Encounter. Their conquerors were Sevilla.
That was the first of Sevilla's seven Europa League triumphs. Watching Manchester United in the Europa League, where they are unbeaten in 13 matches and have scored 15 goals in five knockout ties, it is just like watching Seville.
Until the weekend, United were 14th in the Premier League. Now they are 15th. They have one foot in the Europa League final. That is troubling an awful lot of people.
A popular refrain from the away end at Old Trafford these days is, "You're not famous anymore". A first bottom-half finish in 35 years for United was not even deemed back-page news on Monday.
But then one considers the simmering rancour at a possible United-Tottenham Europa League final. All of a sudden, punters have a bee in their bonnet about the competition's winners qualifying for the Champions League.
Arsene Wenger has disputed it. Wenger did not have a problem when he went all-in on the Europa League in his final weeks in management. True to form, his Arsenal side bottled it against ten-man Atletico Madrid in the semi-final first leg.
The winner of the Europa League has qualified for the Champions League since 2014-15. So that inducement has been active for a decade. Rules are rules.
When Sevilla regained the Europa League trophy in 2023, they finished 12th in La Liga. Eintracht Frankfurt, winners in 2022, came 11th in the