Ange Postecoglou stepped onto a small stage in a function room at Hotel Carlton in Bilbao, where Tottenham Hotspur hosted their post-Europa League final celebrations.
He waited momentarily for the crowd of players, staff, family and friends to settle before putting his hand up and saying, “I’m used to people listening when I talk,” jolting the group into silence.
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“I made family a big theme for us as a group this year,” he said. “How important family is. These boys, I’m so proud of them. And the staff. They’ve been the best family I could ever be associated with, but more importantly, it’s how everyone in this room has helped these boys become champions.
“They truly deserve it. They’re outstanding people, not just outstanding players. I couldn’t be prouder to be their manager. I want everyone to enjoy tonight and what it means because you all, every single one of you, deserve it from the bottom of my heart. I’ve never been prouder to be a manager of a football club, manager of these players, and the people with them.”
Postecoglou’s ability to build a family unit in the face of constant turmoil this season was central to their success on the night. Dominic Solanke, even on his last legs, exemplified the collective buy-in, charging around the pitch in the dying minutes to protect their lead.
The Australian’s speech was not just an opportunity to reflect on the 1-0 win over Manchester United or ending the 17-year trophy drought, but to celebrate their persistence and dedication in a season that the injury crises or Premier League failures could have easily derailed.
Postecoglou has created a family environment within his squad (Ryan Pierse/Getty Images)
En route to winning the Asian Cup in 2015 with Australia — the nation’s first major trophy — Postecoglou asked the players to gather around the jersey and reflect in front of their team-mates on what playing for their national team meant to them. A stirring speech before Australia’s narrow 3-2 defeat to Germany in the 2017 Confederations Cup often goes viral on social media, drawing comparisons to Al Pacino’s famous Inch by Inch scene in Any Given Sunday.
This time, he arranged a meeting with the squad and played a video of their loved ones wishing them good luck before the final. In typical fashion, it had a rousing effect on his players.
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“The message (in the dressing room) was just to do our things, to play for us, for our fans and especially for our fans who were here to support us in the stands,” goalkeeper Guglielmo Vicario told journalists in the post-match mixed zone. “It was very emotional and I think in the back of our minds, they played a big part of the game tonight.
“It was at the hotel. We had the preparation of the game as well as this brilliant video. My mum and my dad (spoke in my video). They were here celebrating with me on the pitch. They said just to fight for this badge, to fight for Tottenham Hotspur, and to make them happy.”
While Tottenham have often left injured players at home to continue their rehabilitation in the Europa League knockout rounds, a full complement travelled to Bilbao. The squad arrived together at San Mames in slim, blue suits and white t-shirts provided by luxury Italian fashion house Kiton, the club’s official formalwear partner since 2023.
But as the final whistle blew, there was a brief opportunity to celebrate on the pitch for the likes of Dejan Kulusevski, James Maddison, Lucas Bergvall and even Will Lankshear, who spent the second half of the season on loan at West Bromwich Albion. They had to ditch the suits and change into more familiar attire.
To collect a medal on the pitch, UEFA requires all players to dress in that team’s kit. The group bent the rules slightly, donning standard white Nike sports socks instead of the longer football-specific variations, while a cast on Kulusevski’s leg meant he could only wear the shirt.
Maddison later told British broadcaster TNT Sports he “didn’t want to do a John Terry when he went with the full kit and the shin pads”, referring to when the former Chelsea captain went onto the pitch to lift the Champions League trophy in 2012 after missing the final through suspension.
Brennan Johnson, who scored the only goal of the evening, was the first player to be interviewed on the pitch by TNT. Draped in a Welsh flag, Johnson, who deactivated his social media accounts last September due to the online abuse, spoke from the heart.
“This season hasn’t been good at all,” Johnson said. “Not one of us players right now cares about that. This is what it’s all about. This club hadn’t won a trophy for 17 years. It means so much. All of the fans get battered. We get battered for not winning a trophy, not winning anything.
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“Ever since I came here, it has been, ‘Tottenham are a good team, but can never get it done’. We got it done.”
When asked whether he thinks Postecoglou should be Tottenham’s head coach into next season, he said, “If there’s ever a time for a mic drop, I think it’s now. I’ll be looking forward to his interview.” Postecoglou later conceded their league form was “terrible” and “unacceptable” but reiterated his desire to stay in north London.
As the Spurs players celebrated together in front of their supporters and family, with Micky van de Ven going into the stands and Richarlison banging a drum in the crowd, Archie Gray took a moment to console his opponents. After giving the United players a guard of honour on their way to pick up their runners-up medals, Postecoglou led Spurs onto the podium, passing UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin as well as Spurs chairman Daniel Levy and United minority co-owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe.
The interaction between Levy and most players was short and respectful, but Maddison pulled Tottenham’s chairman in for a hug as he passed through. Postecoglou was the first person to step onto the podium and initially hung back before Pedro Porro and Vicario pushed him into the middle of the group. As captain, Son Heung-min went up last and lifted the trophy, a moment he believes cements his legend status at the club.
In the aftermath, Son pulled back his fringe to reveal bruising to his head, sustained while lifting the trophy. “I lift, somebody push me and my head hit the trophy,” Son told club media.
Several players, including Son, did not receive a medal on the pitch as UEFA underestimated the amount needed due to “an unexpected discrepancy in the player count, as more team members — including injured players — participated in the ceremony than initially anticipated”. That small group later received their medals in the dressing room, where the celebrations reached another level.
Yves Bissouma, who has reignited his career in recent weeks playing in a double pivot alongside Rodrigo Bentancur, went live on Instagram, showing the players eating pizza, dancing and shooting gold confetti cannons. Bissouma filmed Wilson Odobert, wrapped in a France flag, holding the trophy and dancing to Afro Trap Pt. 3 by Guinean-French rapper MHD, a song in which every line of the chorus ends with “Champions League”, the tournament Tottenham qualified for next season by winning Europe’s secondary competition. He was less enthusiastic when Natasha Bedingfield’s Unwritten was played by the dressing-room DJ.
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While Oscar-winning film director and Spurs fan Bong Joon Ho celebrated the win by lifting a bottle of whisky on a live stream, beer, champagne — both alcoholic and non-alcoholic — and other drinks were passed around the dressing room. Djed Spence re-created his picture from Nottingham Forest’s play-off final triumph in 2022, lying beside the trophy and biting a cigar.
The group stayed in the stadium for hours after kick-off, with players walking between the dressing room and the pitch and taking group and individual pictures with the trophy. Tottenham posted a video of several players lined up on their social channels while the Champions League anthem played in the background. Mikey Moore lifted his hands to the sky, Maddison did the sign of the cross, while Gray licked his lips, mimicking the video of Brazilian icon Ronaldinho doing the same thing while playing for Milan.
Are you ready for us, @ChampionsLeague? 😍 pic.twitter.com/JryS8tonuX
— Tottenham Hotspur (@SpursOfficial) May 21, 2025
On their way back to the hotel, a topless Bissouma wheeled a speaker onto the coach, with Pape Matar Sarr following close behind. On the journey, the Mali international danced with Spence, Richarlison, Sarr and Odobert to Premier Gaou, a song by Francis Mercier and Magic System. Son sat at the front of the coach as it drove through the city, interacting with Spurs fans who cheered the team through.
There’s unreal vibes… then there’s Yves Bissouma vibes 🔊😁 pic.twitter.com/45bOVjYUGk
— Tottenham Hotspur (@SpursOfficial) May 22, 2025
Postecoglou arrived before the players and grinned from ear to ear as he interacted with family and friends. The players entered the conference room shortly after 2am, with the DJ welcoming them with Queen’s We Are The Champions.
Perhaps inspired by Freddie Mercury, Levy later stepped onto the stage and shouted, “We’re champions”, before addressing the crowd with a short speech: “Listen, this has been a very long time coming, 1984 was the last time we won a European cup.
“Tonight, we made history, and I want to thank Ange and all the coaching staff, all the players, you guys have gone down in history. Thank you very much. This is a magnificent achievement for the club that hopefully is going to get us on the road where we absolutely deserve to be, which is at the very top.”
The celebrations carried on late into the night, with Maddison getting onto the stage on several occasions to sing with various people, including comedian Michael McIntyre. Videos have since circulated on the club’s social media of a group, led by Maddison, singing Wonderwall.
“Wonderwall” 🤍🎶
pic.twitter.com/p8DLIj2CJX
— THFCReport (@THFCReports) May 22, 2025
Cristian Romero, who mumbled his way through the Oasis hit, made no mistake with his rendition of Campeones, Ole, Ole, Ole, a song he has sung several times in an Argentina shirt but never before at club level. Son jumped up and down to Nice one, Sonny, a reworked version of the song dedicated to former Spurs full-back Cyril Knowles, who was part of the UEFA Cup-winning side in 1972.
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The party had the distinct Postecoglou “family” flavour, with rotational players like Moore and Sergio Reguilon still front and centre in the celebrations. The Spaniard even held a banner alongside Maddison with a picture of the manager holding the Europa League trophy with the now iconic, “I always win things in my second year” quote over it.
Reguilon and Maddison hold up the Postecoglou poster (Alex Pantling – UEFA/UEFA via Getty Images)
With a gold medal finally wrapped around his neck, Son and Spurs returned to England on Thursday afternoon with the trophy.
Friday’s parade, starting in Edmonton Green at 5.30pm BST (12.30pm ET) and finishing at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, will ensure the party lasts at least another day.
But memories of May 21, and the night that followed it, will live with that group forever.
(Top photo: Michael Steele/Getty Images)
