MATTHIJS DE LIGT headed home a last-gasp leveller to rescue Manchester United a point.
Ruben Amorim’s curse against Spurs looked like it was going to continue when Richarlison’s 90th-minute strike added to a late Mathys Tel effort to overturn Bryan Mbeumo’s first-half header.
Yet remarkably there was still time for Dutch defender De Ligt to rise to meet a Bruno Fernandes corner in the sixth minute of stoppage time and extend United’s unbeaten streak to five games.
Both sets of fans – and certainly the neutrals watching – will have been desperate to watch a higher quality match than that night in Bilbao.
As memorable a night as it was for Spurs, ending their 17-year trophy curse, there is no arguing against the fact it was a dreadful game of football in the San Mames Stadium.
Yet within a minute of the game kicking off, United goalkeeper Senne Lammens completely miscontrolled a routine backpass, letting it go under his foot and out for a corner.
And from then you suspected a thriller was unlikely to be on the cards.
Both sides looked to be cancelling each other out in the middle of the park – as so many Premier League sides do these days – and neither looked to have much of a cutting edge.
It came as a big disappointment for Spurs fans especially, given how they had obliterated FC Copenhagen in the week.
Thomas Frank needed that 4-0 victory, even more so the ultra-creative performance his side put on, after the stinker of a defeat at home to Chelsea three days before.
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That dire 1-0 loss against Spurs’ big rivals saw them register an expected goals score of 0.07, their lowest since records began in 2012, and had fans booing at half-time, full-time and even DURING the game.
The hope had been Frank’s side could transfer the positive Copenhagen display into this game, and quell the growing irritation with the Dane’s cautious tendencies.
But even Frank’s team selection hinted at a manager more concerned with stopping the opposition than opening them up.
Destiny Udogie and Wilson Odobert, who had shone against Copenhagen, were left on the bench in favour of Djed Spence and Richarlison, who started wide left.
Brazilian Richarlison, the embodiment of Spurs fan frustration for how he can produce the magical but is horribly inconsistent, missed Tottenham’s only good chance of the first half.
Brennan Johnson had whipped in a delicious cross on his weaker left foot which Richarlison had risen to meet – only to get the tamest of flicks on the ball and the moment was gone.
United, playing with the same four across the midfield that had struggled in Bilbao, looked comfortable.
In fact the most excited the quiet home fans got in the opening 45 was when Micky van de Ven dribbled the ball a few yards in his own half.
It was, of course, in reference to the early Puskas Goal of the Season contender the Dutchman produced against Copenhagen when running the ball all the way from his box to the other end and belting it into the back of the net.
Sadly this time there was to be no thrilling repeat as Van de Ven shifted the ball safely on to a team-mate.
The entertainment was in short supply – save for Patrick Dorgu’s laughable attempt at the campaign’s worst long throw.
But if one side looked like they had more of a clue how to break down the opponents, it was United, and on 32 minutes, they took the lead.
Spurs were the architects of their own downfall because Pape Sarr should have hacked the ball away to stop the move at source.
But he did not and when United had recycled the ball after Spurs thought they had cleared the danger from an initial Dorgu cross, Amad Diallo picked out Mbeumo beautifully for the Cameroon star to head home.
There was a smattering of boos from the home fans at the break as Frank stewed over another insipid home half where his team had registered just 0.07xG.
He knew he had to do something to shake things up and brought on Odobert for Randal Kolo Muani.
Spurs did up the intensity in the second half – they had to – and were rewarded with a flurry of early chances.
Captain Cristian Romero had the first, flicking on an Odobert cross, but was brilliantly repelled by Lammens.
The Belgium keeper was then alive to a hooked effort from Joao Palhinha – a former Amorim favourite at Sporting Lisbon – and produced another fine reactionary stop.
Spurs did have the ball in the net shortly afterwards but Johnson was clearly offside when converting a pass from Richarlison, who really should have picked out the onside Odobert instead.
United began defending deeper and deeper but still looked pretty assured of the win.
That was until sub Tel controlled a Destiny Udogie cross in the box, held off De Ligt and smashed home a leveller.
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Spurs then thought they had won it in injury time when Richarlison flicked in Odobert’s effort on goal.
But amazingly there was still time for United to salvage something thanks to De Ligt heading home at the far post.
