Micky van de Ven believes Tottenham “deserve” to win trophies as they eye Europa League glory on Wednesday.
Spurs have endured a miserable domestic campaign, currently sitting 17th in the Premier League with only one game left to play, while they lost in the EFL Cup semi-finals to Liverpool before making an early exit from the FA Cup in the same week.
However, they still have the chance to win their first trophy since 2008, and clinch Champions League qualification in the process, when they face Manchester United in the Europa League final.
The showpiece will take place 17 years and 86 days on from their EFL Cup triumph, while their last major European title was the 1984 UEFA Cup under Keith Burkinshaw, 40 years and 363 days ago.
“It will be a big thing, of course, because everybody knows that when you join Tottenham, you get the words through of: ‘Ah, you’re not going to win a trophy, you will be trophyless for the rest of your career’,” Van de Ven said, as quoted in The Guardian.
“All the guys that came up here were like: ‘We’re going to change something about this club’.
“It was the gaffer, and it was the whole squad who said: ‘We’re going to come here and change something’. For us, it’s the job now to make this happen in Bilbao.”
Spurs in Bilbao pic.twitter.com/B7jUc0U17i
— Tottenham Hotspur (@SpursOfficial) May 19, 2025
Tottenham have won the UEFA Cup/Europa League twice before (1972, 1984), while victory on Wednesday would see them become the second English club to win it three times, along with Liverpool.
While their league form has been questioned, Spurs have won nine of their 14 matches in the Europa League (D3 L2), their most-ever wins in a single campaign in major European competition.
For Ange Postecoglou, who claimed he “always wins things in my second year” earlier this season, the future remains uncertain and could be thrown into more doubt were Spurs to lose.
But Van de Ven says he, along with the rest of his team-mates, wants to get the trophy for the Australian.
“We have all been standing behind the gaffer since day one, since he joined here,” Van de Ven added.
“He showed his quality; he brought us to a European final. Of course, he’s getting a lot of doubt from the media, and we see these things.
“But I think he proved all you guys wrong, and we’re standing in a European final, so hopefully we can lift the trophy. Not only for us but also for him.
“We all know we play for a big club. This club deserves trophies. That’s the truth. If you look at the quality in the squad, we deserve a trophy. It has been a tough season, but we can end this perfectly by winning a prize.”
