Purists look forward to a fitting final

YOUR REMOTE has a time-travel button

YOUR REMOTE has a time-travel button. It only works on certain days and there is often a need to scour the television schedules to find when it will work, but the Europa League coverage has been ever more gripping in its old-fashioned air of adventure this season.

Indeed, the final between Atlético Madrid and Athletic Bilbao in Bucharest tonight could well buck the trend in which clubs become inhibited when a prize is all too close.

It is unlikely an error will scar a career in this throwback tournament as a lapse might when Bayern Munich and Chelsea clash in the Champions League final. But the beauty of the Europa League lies exactly in the fact it does not have one eye on posterity. It has settled for making Thursdays fun, although the final itself has received an upgrade to Wednesday.

Perhaps the sides will grow pensive when the trophy is so close, but, with luck, the buccaneering attitude is too entrenched to be winkled out now. Atlético, in particular, have had a long relationship with the competition this season after, coming through a qualifying round as well as a play-off. The other finalists have sometimes appeared to surge through the tournament.

READ MORE

The sole quibble over Manchester United’s elimination by Athletic is that the 5-3 aggregate score understated the superiority of the winners, for whom Fernando Llorente scored in each match. Technique and energy were both at levels well beyond the reach of Alex Ferguson’s side.

The other contender for the Premier League title also discovered how exacting the Europa League can be. Manchester City were removed from it by Sporting Lisbon. The clubs vying to become champions of England proved inadequate then.

This may be one of those random moments when a tournament is in perfect balance. It has a populist touch, available to all on terrestrial TV thanks to TV3 and 3e, although ESPN also has rights to some of the fixtures. Those broadcasters will be delighted since the Europa League is virtually perfect at present.

Its contests are so even that everyone should snatch the opportunity to appreciate them. Word must have got around because the attendances confirm the public’s fervour. The 52,000 people who gathered in Gelsenkirchen for the first leg of Schalke’s quarter-final with Athletic had not turned up out of some morose sense of duty.

The sole dissatisfaction for the crowd came when the visitors tastelessly notched a couple of goals towards the end that clinched a 4-2 win in an enthralling match. After that, Schalke’s situation was hopeless yet in the Europa League sides refuse to settle for a nondescript defeat while the manager speaks of other priorities.

Schalke led twice in the San Mamés before having to make do with an honourable draw. That quarter-final epitomised the charm that the competition holds and there was pleasure in seeing the 34-year-old Raúl score three goals for Schalke over the course of the tie.

It was good, too, to find Klaas-Jan Huntelaar striking in the first leg. At 28, he is far from doddery and has just ended the Bundesliga season as top scorer with 29 goals. While Huntelaar may have put Milan, Real Madrid and Ajax behind him, the Dutchman has scarcely settled for a secluded life.

If the Premier League sides floundered in the Europa League, it is not necessarily because they had other targets in mind. United were in earnest and Ferguson demonstrated the fact by keeping his word and sending out a strong line-up against Athletic in the last 16, but each match was still lost.

City were ousted by Sporting on the away-goals rule. It is salutary to realise that the sides providing us with a grand conclusion to the Premier League were also-rans. City and United had suggested as much earlier when failing to emerge from their Champions League groups.

In normal days, well-funded clubs demonstrate that their means will tell, but the inability to do so has been a boon to the Europa League. So far as organisers are concerned, it must have verged on perfection that United and City could add to the status of the secondary competition while being utterly incapable of taking control of it.

The Europa League has been a joy and we should rush to treasure it while we can. It contains a lesson. The major clubs can afford large squads that will sustain them in the long term, but a side such as Athletic has spells when it can devastate the opposition. It is without a major trophy since 1984, when it did the domestic double, but hopes must be climbing.

EXPERT VIEW : Andrews joins TV3 panel for final

REPUBLIC of Ireland midfielder Keith Andrews will join the TV3 panel for this evening’s coverage from Bucharest. The West Brom player, who was named in Giovanni Trapattoni's squad for Euro 2012 on Monday, will give his reaction to the Italian’s selection for the trip to Poland as well as weighing up the form of Spanish internationals like Fernando Llorente, Javi Martinez and Andoni Iraola, all of whom are likely to be in action tonight for Athletic Bilbao.

Guardian Service