Tottenham win Europa League: Ange Postecoglou delivers for Spurs in Bilbao but could trophy now transform them?

Brennan Johnson's smile lit up San Mames as he whirled the Welsh flag. A shirtless Pedro Porro jumped on Ange Postecoglou. The Tottenham boss embraced Archie Gray in turn. Kevin Danso clambered over the hoardings. Richarlison rode on his back.

Heung-Min Son, like Guglielmo Vicario, dropped to the floor, physically and emotionally spent. Dominic Solanke tried to stir him. And those were just the ones who had played. James Maddison conducted the crowd. Dejan Kulusevski waved his crutches in the air.

A full ninety minutes after the final whistle and Son, a player who has given everything for the club and now finally has something to show for it, was still out there posing with the trophy. Mathys Tel and Lucas Bergvall collected the glitter. Ben Davies took selfies.

The famous quote attributed to former Tottenham forward Steve Archibald argues that team spirit is an illusion spotted in the aftermath of victory. Some illusion. Some victory. After 17 trophyless years, good teams and bad, the wait is over and a weight is lifted.

At 15 kilograms, the old UEFA Cup is indeed the heaviest of Europe's trophies, and boy did these two teams come into this with baggage. But it is Spurs, 53 years on from Alan Mullery becoming the first man to lift the thing, who finally won a game when it mattered most.

What was so impressive about that was the manner of it - as incongruous as that may seem given that this was far from a classic final. Conventional wisdom had it that this team - this football club - lacked the belief to dig in. Adversity would be their enemy.

Instead, a side that has lost 21 Premier League games and conceded a dozen equalising goals were dogged in clinging to their clean sheet. This performance was anything but Spursy - something rather tellingly referenced by both Son and Vicario afterwards.

It was almost wily. Yves Bissouma was booked for delaying a restart. Destiny Udogie delayed time. Rodrigo Bentancur urged an already glacial-paced Vicario to slow it down more. Richarlison played on the edge. Cristian Romero played Harry Maguire like a fiddle.

None of which is meant as a criticism. It showed a maturity not expected. "It is just who we are, mate." That line was originally uttered to explain Postecoglou's persistence with a high defensive line even when reduced to nine players against Chelsea last season.

This was something different. Shorn of the flair of Maddison and Kulusevski, his team showed a new side. Postecoglou's memorable line after this one? "I am a winner, mate." True of him, perhaps, given that second-season record. But not of Spurs. Not until now.

It has turned into a time for such things, habits broken, narratives shifting. In England's cups, Newcastle United and Crystal Palace have ended even longer waits to win. But Tottenham's triumph can be more than mere catharsis. It has the potential to transform.

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Next stop Udine for the UEFA Super Cup against the winners of the Champions League. From there, a return to Europe's premier club competition and the riches that brings. Son's emotional reaction felt like an ending but this could also be a new beginning for this side.

Some had speculated that Postecoglou's race was run regardless and there were certainly times during the most miserable of league campaigns when the Australian appeared not just to have lost his lustre for the job but for football itself as a sport.

And yet, the tone has been increasingly defiant. Postecoglou is no clown, this was no circus and he wants everyone to know it. "I do not feel like I have completed the job yet," he replied when asked about what the future now holds for him. "We are still building."

That has been far from obvious but moments like this have a way of reframing things. Of the 15 players to feature in the final, only Son is over the age of 28. Most could still consider their careers to be on an upward trajectory. And Spurs can now add to that squad.

Postecoglou has been adamant that injuries explained their struggles and while that does not excuse how poor his team have been it is worth noting that the back five that defied United have not started a Premier League game together in well over six months.

There is, it turns out, something to build on here and Postecoglou no doubt believes that after ending that 17-year drought he has earned the right to be constructor in chief. More importantly, there were signs - in the game and after it - that his players believe that too.

It was evident in the warm embraces on the pitch. It was there as Vicario and Danso talked of doing it for their beleaguered boss. Perhaps something was being forged in Bilbao and it was a feeling that this group will want to experience again - together.

As Postecoglou drank in the cheers of the crowd, tapping his chest, pumping his fists, it was apparent that he had given these fans a moment they had craved for a generation. Nobody, not Mauricio Pochettino, not Antonio Conte, not Jose Mourinho, had done that.

After all those years of promise without the pay-off, all those philosophical reinventions, it finally came when hope had faded, when they thought they had lost their way. Well, perhaps football will need a new punchline because they are nearly men, no more.

Lads, it's Tottenham. Winners of the Europa League. Winners, again.

(c) Sky Sports 2025: Tottenham win Europa League: Ange Postecoglou delivers for Spurs in Bilbao but could trophy now transform them?