Man Utd and Ruben Amorim face a massive sliding doors moment in Bilbao

Ruben Amorim has been consistent in his message that not even winning the Europa League can save Manchester United’s season.

Maybe he’s right. The fact they sit 16th in the league, with scope to slump further, remains a mind-melter when you actually stop and think about it. This is, after all, Manchester United Football Club We’re Talking About.

And unlike with Spurs, whose own league efforts are somehow even worse, there is not the same sense at United that a trophy – any trophy – makes everything worth it. United don’t need another season where the cracks of wretched league form are papered over with a trophy. They had one of those last season, and have spent this season paying for it.

But what beating Tottenham in Bilbao might do for Man United is far more significant than the outcome of a single season. This, really, feels like where the divergence exists between these two finalists who sit next to each other so miserably back at home.

Both can point to a vast discrepancy between their Premier League and Europa League form. Both have, correctly and inevitably, prioritised this competition at further cost to already ruined domestic campaigns.

Both have made it abundantly clear where their priorities have been for months now.

But with Spurs this feels like an opportunistic chance for catharsis, to cast off a banter albatross at long, long last and move on with their lives. On its own, the Europa League final perhaps means more for them, but as part of a wider plan it is United who face the bigger sliding doors moment in Bilbao.

Win or lose, Spurs will reset and relaunch yet again under a new manager, who will be given some of the signings he needs yet by no means all. They will spend a year or two in transition, lose their nerve, and start the whole process again. It is the history of the Tottenham.

United’s case is slightly different. They are in the early stages of one of their own frequent post-Fergie resets, one that involved bringing in a manager whose style of play is almost entirely at odds with the squad that’s been left at his disposal.

While Ange Postecoglou will surely leave Spurs win or lose, Amorim surely stays. What alters with victory here is the potential speed and scope of the rebuild he badly needs this summer.

Matheus Cunha’s move to Old Trafford is welcome, and shows that even in their current reduced and sorry state United remain a draw for players with what are, on paper, better choices.

But there is no doubt that the financial and footballing benefits of being able to offer Champions League football will make United’s other wooing missions this summer that bit easier.

Bluntly, even as wretched as they are now, United in the gutter are still looking at the stars. Given the right tools and opportunity, Amorim remains a manager capable of restoring them to something like their rightful place in English football even after his unnecessarily chaotic and poorly-timed arrival.

For Spurs, Wednesday night in Bilbao is a destination in itself. A release of emotion and frustration akin to that we’ve already seen this season for Newcastle and Crystal Palace.

For United, though, it represents more of a stepping stone. They’ll enjoy the night if it goes their way, of course, but it won’t even be the first time they’ve won this trophy in the post-Fergie wilderness years.

The flipside, of course, is that defeat comes with dread consequences and further erosion of an already significantly depleted aura.

While victory represents a potentially transformative springboard for Amorim and the club, defeat will leave them as not only the Manchester United team that finished 16th – or maybe even worse – in the Premier League but also the one that handed a trophy to Tottenham.

This one game comes to early in Amorim’s reign to definitively make or break him right now, but it still feels like when his United career comes to be judged, the result of this one game will be a pivotal moment in setting its overall course.

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