‘We had to do this’ – Spurs’ goalscorer Johnson

They say it does not matter how you score, as long as the ball goes in but, even so, Brennan Johnson may be feeling pretty fortunate that he has gone down in history as Tottenham Hotspur’s Europa League final match-winner.

The ball appeared to go in off Manchester United defender Luke Shaw when Johnson made contact with Pape Matar Sarr’s cross into the box during the first half of Spurs’ 1-0 win in Bilbao.

Perhaps somewhat generously, though, Uefa credited the goal to Johnson. The scruffiest of goals, but the sweetest of memories for the Wales forward to cherish before his 24th birthday on Friday.

“I knew I touched it a bit [for the goal], but not clean, then I looked up and the ball was trickling in the goal,” Johnson told TNT Sports after the game.

“[In the last five minutes] I couldn’t watch. I was just asking ‘how long left?’ When we defended that corner, I was getting told it was done and the relief is something I can’t describe.”

No wonder, given how special it was for him and his club. The goal was Johnson’s 20th of the season for club and country – his best return in a single campaign – and gave Spurs their first piece of silverware since 2008.

“I’m so happy right now,” he said. “This season has not been good at all, not one of us players care about that now.

“This team has not won a trophy for 17 years, it means so much.

“All the fans get battered, we get battered for not winning a trophy. We had to get the first one. I’m so happy. Ever since I came here it has been ‘Tottenham, good team but can’t get it done’, but we got it done.”

Finding himself 17th in the Premier League was not what Johnson would have expected when he joined Spurs from Nottingham Forest for a fee in excess of £45m in the summer of 2023.

While his old club have been one of the stories of the season, challenging for a Champions League spot, his current employers and boss Ange Postecoglou have been ridiculed for their dismal domestic campaign.

But Johnson, who also scored in Spurs’ Europa League semi-final win over Bodo/Glimt, said he and his team-mates owed Postecoglou a debt of gratitude for “trusting in us” over the course of a successful European campaign that defied their struggles in the Premier League.

“He has done his job,” said Johnson. “He said he wins in the second year and he has, if there’s ever a time for a mic drop, it’s now [when he speaks to the media].

“I can’t thank the manager enough for how much trust he has in us, and he has a really good way of getting us up for it.”

Johnson added: “Tottenham Hotspur being 17th in the Premier League is not good enough. We had an unbelievable Europa League run. The fans have been so good, home and away, and they had the edge over the United fans. They were all here an hour before the game, they got us through the game.”