The UEFA Europa League final is set.
Manchester United will face Tottenham Hotspur on Wednesday 21 May at the San Mames in Bilbao, Spain.
This was after United emerged victorious 7-1 on aggregate against Athletic Club in their semi-final while Spurs beat Bodo Glimt 5-1 on aggregate in theirs.
The winner of the all-English tie will be rewarded with not just a trophy, but a place in the UEFA Champions League also.
With both sides having faced disastrous league campaigns, the UEFA Europa League is an opportunity to salvage the season and get into the UEFA Champions League through the backdoor.
The financial incentive of getting to the top of European football is immense for both sides.
Missing out will likely mean a loss of at least £100m for the loser.
With both sides needing to invest in their squads this summer, that’s money that can’t be easily replaced.
So the pressure is on.
And most football observers are now turning attention to see which team will emerge victorious and claim all the glory.
Sports analytics company Opta have given their say.
Using a supercomputer to compute the expected results, Opta have determined who is more likely to lift the UEFA Europa League trophy later this month.
In order to conduct their experiment and reach their conclusions, Opta ran 10,000 simulations and noted who won more games in that simulations.
And the results were good news for Manchester United fans.
Opta found that Manchester United won the trophy in 50.7% of their simulations compared to 49.3% won by Tottenham Hotspur.
That means that the supercomputer gives The Red Devils a 1% higher chance of lifting the trophy than Spurs.
Such a tight margin of probability shows just how tight the result is to call.
With two weeks still to go until the game, there’s likely to be more twists and turns in the buildup to the final.
United fans will be hoping that the prediction from Opta turns true and it’s their team that will be celebrating in Spain.
Two weeks before the 2025 Europa League final, here is the current Opta supercomputer prediction on who will win between Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur in Bilbao.
Man Utd win the trophy in 50.7% of the 10,000 current simulations, compared to 49.3% won by Spurs. 🏆 pic.twitter.com/Aa8yGchqS0
— Opta Analyst (@OptaAnalyst) May 8, 2025
