There has been a divergence in approach. For a start, when they played their last match before the final within 45 minutes of each other on Friday, the respective managers opted for very different strategies.
Postecoglou played a completely different team at Aston Villa compared to the one that beat Bodo/Glimt in the second leg of their semi-final. He left key centre-backs Micky van de Ven and Cristian Romero out of the squad entirely.
“I don’t understand why they are gripped by fear, both managers will want to go into the cup final with momentum,” said ex-Celtic striker Chris Sutton.
“It’s just that selection fear where Postecoglou won’t play Cristian Romero and Micky van de Ven – but will they be undercooked?”
Amorim went strong. Even following the return to training of Diogo Dalot, Joshua Zirkzee and Leny Yoro on Tuesday, other than Mason Mount and speculation around striker Rasmus Hojlund, it felt very much like the team who will start the final.
“I don’t know the context of Tottenham. What I know is the last game against Bilbao, we had that game and then we rested some players because we were afraid of some injuries,” said Amorim.
“Then we had a full week to prepare for the game and I felt, with five days to the final, the best thing to prepare for the final was to give time to the players – the best way to prepare something is to compete.”
Tottenham held a team barbecue at their Hotspur Way training ground at the weekend, which Postecoglou says was player-driven, before arriving in Bilbao on Monday afternoon, taking up residence in a hotel right in the heart of the city.
“It was very important, being together, talking about life,” said captain Son Heung-min. “It feels like we are getting even closer.”
“This bonding experience is very important,” added right-back Pedro Porro. “The team is like our family. It’s very good to talk about life with our team-mates, too.”
United arrived a day later and opted to stay slightly further away from the stadium – only three miles, so not exactly a long journey.
United also decided against taking up the option of a final training session in the match stadium. Most clubs these days don’t train in the matchday venue before European games.
The benefits of this are twofold. Firstly, it is far easier to keep their own training grounds secure and stop the opposition spying on them. Secondly, there is familiarity and ease of access to equipment, such as drones, that are now a vital part of team preparation.
In all likelihood, Tottenham won’t do anything of note in their final session at the San Mames stadium. But it will allow them to get the feel of the iconic ground.
United will do a walk round instead. In fairness, it is only three weeks since they beat Athletic Club 3-0 there in the first leg of their semi-final, so the need to get accustomed to their surroundings is not the same.
“As the players we just think about what we have ahead of us, and what we have ahead of us is the chance to get our hands on a trophy,” explained United captain Bruno Fernandes.
