Man Utd and Spurs open door to six English teams in Champions League

Manchester United and Tottenham both celebrated Europa League semi-final first-leg wins

Manchester United and Tottenham both took huge strides towards reaching the Europa League final with semi-final first-leg wins on Thursday.

United won 3-0 at Athletic Bilbao, who incidentally host the final on 21 May, while Tottenham saw off Bodo/Glimt 3-1 in London.

Statisticians Opta give United a 97% chance of reaching the final - with 91% for Spurs - meaning an 88% likelihood of both being there.

That would create just a sixth all-English final in any major European competition - with half of them involving Spurs.

It would also mean six English teams in next season's Champions League.

Are we getting ahead of ourselves?

Opta's data gives only a 12% chance of it not being an all-English final.

United's 3-0 win over Athletic, who sit fourth in La Liga, was hugely impressive - and they will hope home advantage next week means they will get over the line.

Spurs may feel like the job is not quite as done.

Norwegian Arctic side Glimt's win rate at home in the Europa League since 2022-23 is 70%, compared to 9% on the road.

Why would England get a sixth Champions League place?

Neither Manchester United nor Tottenham have any hope of finishing anywhere near the domestic European places

The winners of the Europa League go into the following season's Champions League, regardless of where they finish domestically.

So a United v Spurs final would guarantee them a return to the mega-riches of European football's top table.

That rule is handy for United - who sit 14th - and Spurs - who are 16th - both more than 20 points behind fifth place.

Without winning the Europa League, neither of them will be in any European competition next season.

It would not have any knock-on effect on any other English teams - with the top five guaranteed a Champions League spot through the league.

That fifth spot came as a result of English clubs' performances in Europe this season.

Could England have a clean sweep of European trophies?

No country's teams have ever won the Champions League, Europa League and Conference League in the same season (albeit the latter is only in its fourth year).

But it could yet happen for England this term - with teams in all the semis.

The smallest chance (12.1% say Opta) is for Arsenal, who lost 1-0 at home to Paris St-Germain in the Champions League first leg on Tuesday.

In the Conference League, Chelsea have looked like likely winners all season. They won 4-1 at Djurgarden in their semi-final first leg.

What were the other all-English finals?

Tottenham have won the 1972 Uefa Cup and lost the 2019 Champions League final against English teams

The first ever Uefa Cup, in 1971-72, saw Tottenham and Wolves meet in the two-legged final.

Spurs won the first leg 2-1 at Molineux, with Martin Chivers scoring twice, and drew 1-1 at White Hart Lane two weeks later.

It would take 36 years for the next English final, which came in the 2007-08 Champions League as Manchester United beat Chelsea on penalties in Moscow.

Cristiano Ronaldo and Frank Lampard traded goals before a shootout best remembered for John Terry's miss after slipping.

There were two all-English finals in 2018-19.

Liverpool beat Tottenham 2-0 in the Champions League in Madrid, with goals from Mohamed Salah and Divock Origi.

And Chelsea saw off Arsenal 4-1 in Baku in the Europa League, with Eden Hazard netting twice in his final game for the club.

Two years later Chelsea beat Manchester City 1-0 in the Champions League, with Kai Havertz scoring the only goal in Porto.