Normally there would be nothing particularly noteworthy about that statement, but when you consider that United are in 15th position in the English top-flight and Spurs are in 16th, it puts a different spin on things.
To give some further context, no team competing in the final since the UEFA Cup was rebranded in the 2009/10 season has finished lower than 12th in their respective league.
Fulham lost the 2010 final and Sevilla won it in 2023, both whilst placed 12th, so this season's final will be breaking new ground.
Europe has offered United and Spurs respite from Premier League failures
In many respects, the respective European sojourns of Man United and Spurs have offered some respite from domestic trials and tribulations, and the importance of this year's final cannot therefore be overstated.
A European final that will be the sixth all-English affair after the 1972 UEFA Cup (Tottenham v Wolves), the 2008 Champions League (Chelsea v Man United), the 2019 Europa League (Arsenal v Chelsea), the 2019 Champions League (Liverpool v Tottenham) and the 2021 Champions League (Chelsea v Man City).
The winner this year will also guarantee themselves Champions League football next season and an associated financial windfall, whilst their place in the top European competition will be the first time that six Premier League clubs have entered the competition in the same season.
Although United fell behind on Thursday night to a screamer from Athletic Club's Mikel Jauregizar, the tide turned when substitute Mason Mount levelled the tie on the night and put the Red Devils 4-1 up on aggregate.
His epic long-range effort in injury time capped a fine cameo performance and meant that Mount became the first substitute to score a brace in a European knockout match for United since David Beckham against Real Madrid in the quarter-finals of the Champions League in April 2003.
Visitors couldn't take their chances at Old Trafford
Despite not being able to rally his troops in the Premier League, Ruben Amorim will be delighted by the fact that his side (previously Erik ten Hag's, of course) are unbeaten in their 14 games in the Europa League this season (W9 D5). It's the most matches they’ve ever played in a single European campaign without losing.
The Portuguese has also become the first manager to reach a major European final in his first season in charge of an English club since Thomas Tuchel with Chelsea in the 2020/21 Champions League, and the second to ever do so for Man United after Jose Mourinho in the 2016/17 Europa League.
Both Athletic Club and United had 11 shots in the game at Old Trafford, though the visitors only managed one on target for their goal. That, ultimately, was the story of the game as passing and possession stats were reasonably equal, as were 19 successful dribbles from the hosts compared to 18 for Athletic.
During his review of where things went wrong for his side, a few things will stand out for Ernesto Valverde.
For a start, they made nothing of the 27 crosses into the box (United had just five), and intercepted passes on 21 occasions and yet couldn't build anything like a dangerous attack.
In the end, the Red Devils eased into the final to play Tottenham, a team that they've not beaten in the last six matches and who also knocked them out of the Carabao Cup earlier this season after a seven-goal epic.
Europa League final promises goals galore
Unless both managers take a cautious approach in the final, goals will be guaranteed. In 12 of the last 14 meetings, at least two goals have been scored, and nine of those games have seen three goals or more.
Ange Postecoglou has often declared that he always wins a trophy in his second season, and now he's just 90 minutes away from doing so. Pundit Paul Robinson has sounded a note of caution ahead of the final, however.
"If Tottenham don't win he won't be in charge next season," Robinson said after the match against Bodo/Glimt. "Ange Postecoglou's whole season and Tottenham career depends on that one result. You cannot underestimate how big that game is."
Although it took until the 63rd minute of their semi-final for Dominic Solanke to settle the nerves, the North Londoners, like United, were never really in danger of going out. Pedro Porro's speculative effort, which went in off the far post on 69, merely added some gloss to the aggregate scoreline.
Porro's goal was also the first from a Spurs player outside the box in European competition since Son Heung-min's effort against Manchester City in the 2018/19 Champions League quarter-final.
Most Spurs wins in a single European campaign
The victory earned Tottenham their ninth win in the Europa League this season (D3 L2), which is their most ever victories in the same campaign across major European competition, and it gave them back-to-back away victories in Europe for the first time since November 2013.
Just 31.3% possession across the 90 minutes won't have pleased Postecoglou, however, the hosts were kept at bay with relative ease, as just two shots on target from them would attest.
If we look at a number of other metrics from the match, you'd be forgiven for wondering how on earth Bodo/Glimt didn't make it to the Bilbao showpiece, though the manner of the performance didn't really matter to Spurs. It was all about the result.
The history books will indeed show Tottenham in the final at Bodo/Glimt's expense, despite the latter having more than double the passes of their opponents (600 to 257), almost treble the accurate passes (518 to 188) and 21 crosses into the box.
The doggedness of the Premier League outfit on the night saw a different type of game from Spurs, and maybe one that's anathema to that which they would usually play under Postecoglou. That they got the right result would suggest that a slight change in tactics was exactly the right thing to do in the circumstances.
How the Spurs faithful would love to be celebrating their first trophy of any description since the 2008 League Cup final, whilst United need to lift the trophy for entirely different reasons.
That's precisely why the 2025 Europa League final is sure to be a pivotal match one way or the other.
