Wanted desperately: a system that allowsManchester Unitedto create a cornucopia of chances, plus a Bruno Fernandes who does not go missing precisely when this one-man Ruben Amorim outfit needs him - in a major European final.
Cumbersome, toothless and lacking flair: this has been Amorim’s 3-4-3 formation since he took over in early November, and was Fernandes on Wednesday night, alongside the (again) impotent Rasmus Højlund, plus the anonymous Mason Mount, Amad Diallo and too many others in United colours.
In aEuropa Leagueshowpiece impossible to predict, “control Bruno Fernandes” was surely Ange Postecoglou’s mission statement to Tottenham in this 54th final of Europe’s second-tier competition.
Except what happened here at a San Mamés, nicknamed “The Cathedral” by its Athletic Bilbao brethren, answered the call in a different way. The captain self-combusted by ceding possession awfully in an error that presaged a winner credited by Uefa to Brennan Johnson, despite it appearing to be a Luke Shaw own goal.
A simple, tapped Fernandes pass was intercepted by Pape Sarr near the centre-spot, United were turned, and when the same player eventually crossed – from the left – a combination of handball by Shaw and André Onana’s muddle put Spurs in fantasy land.
A simple law of United is if Fernandes is not a factor then Amorim’s men seriously struggle. His ineffectiveness was the prime reason why the sides’ three previous clashes this season ended in victory for Postecoglou’s men, with an aggregate score of 8-3, although he was sent off in September’s miserable 3-0 loss at Old Trafford, with the opening, 3-0 triumph at Old Trafford featuring a Fernandes clip on James Maddison that had him sent off (a red card later rescinded).
When Postecoglou posited there were “a couple of key players we have to shut down” one was obviously the Portuguese. So, even better, Fernandes was stymieing himself: the errant ball to Sarr was not the first or last, as he seemed to suffer by being fielded alongside Casemiro in central midfield by Amorim rather than in his more regular No 10 berth.
Spurs’ strike arrived on 42 minutes so the question was: would United’s head coach execute a rejig by introducing Manuel Ugarte to partner Casemiro? The answer, astonishingly to this observer, proved in the negative.
Fernandes’s numbers in the continental club game’s second-tier tournament had read as uber-lethal: seven goals and four assists this term in a total of 27 and 23 for a record 50 contributions throughout his career. But, as he said: “It will only mean something if I can go all the way and lift the trophy”.
After the break, Fernandes’s task was to yank his men back into the contest as payback for the error, and to ease the memory of United’s 2021 Europa League final disappointment in which he also failed to perform.
But, again, an early free-kick he sought to arrow into Spurs’ area from the right failed to beat the first man – Yves Bissouma – and at this point Fernandes and his team seemed mired in quicksand, unable to escape from the morass of their dull, unimaginative play.
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Here, for a countless time, we saw the searing issue with Amorim-ball: it does not engineer nearly enough chances. Even when Fernandes – who else? – did finally threaten to unlock Guglielmo Vicario’s goal, it was via a low-slung free-kick the keeper beat away: route-one stuff. It was a rare moment of quality as, next, Fernandes produced more carelessness, this time handing the ball to Johnson who launched a rapid Spurs attack.
Each of these club’s previous European finals were defeats – United’s the 12-11 penalty shootout reverse to Villarreal in the 2021 edition of this competition; while Spurs were on the wrong end of a 2-0 Champions League loss to Liverpool two years earlier. To avoid going down again, Amorim threw on Joshua Zirkzee for Højlund and Alejandro Garnacho for Mason Mount – a 71st-minute desperate throw of the dice from the head coach.
To false 9 or not to false 9 had seemed, pre-match, the piercing question for Amorim due to Højlund’s toothlessness. Yet to make a move the head coach had made only once before would be bold (when fielding Kobbie Mainoo in February’s 2-0 loss at Crystal Palace) and in naming the Dane, Amorim could also point to how six of his paltry 10 finishes were in this competition.
But no – Højlund was as blunt as Fernandes and the rest of United and so Amorim’s Class of 2025 follows Ole Gunnar Solskjær’s of 2021 by failing to etch their names in the club annals. Only those of 2017, 2008, 1999, 1991, and 1968 have seized European glory, and sent their fans home delightedly clutching a lifetime memory.
When asked for his best offering in this tournament, Fernandes had been clear: “I hope that my favourite moment is still to come. I hope that there’s an even better moment than all of them I’ve had so far: lifting the trophy. That would top the lot.”
Now, though, a long summer of soul searching awaits the 30-year-old and you have to wonder if Fernandes might consider a move away should United’s one world-class talent attract a bid from an elite team.