MANCHESTER United and Tottenham Spurs fans are guzzling pints and partying on the streets of Bilbao in the run up to the season-saving Europa League final.
Up to 70,000 footie fans have flocked from the UK to sunny Bilbao where spirits are at an all-time high – despite some taking a 32-hour ferry ride to get there.
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Bilbao bars have been flooded with Brit fans chanting and drinking ahead of the anticipated final tonight.
Both sets of supporters have been pictured marching through the streets, chanting songs with drinks in hand as they gear up for the Europa League final.
Images show one Spurs fan playing the trumpet for gargantuan crowds, while Man United supporters hold up their beers to cheers.
Footage taken by The Sun showed fans filling the streets, with around 70,000 fans thought to have flocked to Spain – despite the stadium being at 53,000-capacity.
Some have braved an epic 32-hour-plus ferry ride which set sail at 10pm on Sunday evening and didn’t arrive until this morning.
With flights to Spain rocketing over £1,000 after the Prem teams sealed their final spots, many took advantage of the cheaper sea-route option, which set them back £260 for a cabin.
The sky-high air prices are due to just six direct flights from Britain to the Basque region’s industrial port city each day.
And with only 65 hotels in Spain’s tenth largest city, accommodation has been fully-booked for weeks.
Each club has millions of fans across the globe, but since there are just 14,000 tickets allocated to each team, bagging a seat to the showpiece event has been a tricky task.
On Sunday night, precious tickets to the big game were selling on the black market for up to £10,000.
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EasyJet was charging £1,823 to fly from Gatwick to Bilbao on Wednesday morning and return on Thursday morning, while the cheapest hotels for Wednesday night cost around £1,200.
But for those fans who managed to snap up the golden tickets, footage has shown them enjoying themselves.
Despite dismal Premier League seasons – United finishing 16th in the table and Spurs in 17th, perilously close to the relegation zone – die-hard supporters were emptying their bank accounts and flocking to Bilbao.
Aside from European glory, the victorious team qualifies for next season’s cash-riddled Champions League, worth a cool £100m to the club lifting the prized trophy.
The travel chaos endured by thousands of footie fans has mirrored the 1987 American road trip comedy movie Planes, Trains and Automobiles starring Steve Martin and John Candy.
Spurs fan John Affleck of Enfield, Herts., was today enjoying local delicacy pintxos – snacks on a slice of bread resembling an open sandwich – washed down with Sangria.
He told The Sun: “I flew to Madrid then got the train down. There are no hotel rooms so I’m bunking up with a pal on his hotel floor.
“The trip will cost me more than £5,000. I’m broke, but I really don’t care. We just need to win.”
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Frank Johns, a Red Devils season ticket holder, jetted out yesterday from Heathrow via Schiphol in Amsterdam.
He said: “It has been a pitiful season but none of that will matter if we lift the trophy.”
Under-fire Ruben Amorim and Ange Postecoglou face the chop if they don’t prevail in the final – cruelly dubbed “El Crapico” by rival fans and pundits.
Amorim masterminded Manchester United’s 7-1 semi-final demolition of ten-man Athletic Bilbao.
And Postecoglou guided his Tottenham team to a 5-1 triumph over Norwegians Bodo/Glimt in the other to set up the all-English final.
Tottenham were beaten 2-0 by Liverpool in the 2019 Champions League final, while Chelsea beat Arsenal 4-1 in the Europa League final in the same year.
United beat Chelsea in the 2008 Champions League final and Spurs KO’d Wolves to win the 1972 Uefa Cup.
Tottenham have already beaten the Manchester outfit on three occasions this season – twice in the league and once in the Carabao Cup.
They are looking to end a trophy drought that dates back to 2008 and has hung over the club – to the delight of opposing fans.
United meanwhile have continued to be dire in the Prem with Amorim claiming his side are “not ready” to be competitive domestically and in the Champions League.
Footie fanatics get the party started early
By Sun man in Bilbao, Dave Courtnadge
IT’S barely midday in Bilbao on the day before the Europa League final between Manchester United and Spurs – but it’s already getting lively.
I arrived in the city at about 9am after a 32-HOUR ferry ride from Portsmouth.
And the first thing a lot of fellow fans planned to do was find a pub for a well-earned drink.
Walking around the area around the San Mames stadium this morning, a fair few others had the same idea.
Many have had long journeys, stopping off overnight in another city to keep down the soaring cost of getting here, with some direct flights over £1,000.
So it’s no surprise many are already getiing the party started, or the Bilbao leg of the party anyway.
Spurs fan Gary, who flew out from London before an overnight stay in a Madrid hotel resembling a “prison cell”, joked as he supped a pint in the sun: “I’m just getting some practice in for tomorrow.”
The atmosphere has been brilliant so far, and hopefully that will continue.
There had been claims that Spurs fans are set to outnumber United fans by 5 to 1, with an estimated 50,000 supporters of the two English sides expected to arrive.
One Tottenham follower I spoke to joked that they had bought all the flights out of London to keep the Reds out.
Based on the number of Spurs shirts I’ve already seen, he might be right.