Bodø/Glimt 0-2 Tottenham (agg: 1-5): Spurs ease into Europa League final

Tottenham Hotspur navigated their way through to the UEFA Europa League final after triumphing 2-0 at Bodø/Glimt, with goals from Dominic Solanke and Pedro Porro sealing a 5-1 aggregate semi-final win.

Match in brief: Tottenham cruise into final

Pedro Porro shows his joy after curling in Spurs' secondGetty Images

Having scored after 39 seconds of the first leg, Tottenham started out on the attack again, in a setting where the hosts had won nine of their ten European matches this season. The visitors posed an immediate threat with a three-pronged attack of Richarlison, Dominic Solanke and Brennan Johnson.

Full-back Destiny Udogie was an enterprising presence and supply line along the left, sending an inviting cross in front of goal that was crucially pawed away by goalkeeper Nikita Haikin as Spurs continued to push for an opener.

Bodø/Glimt had boosted their hopes of a comeback by scoring a late goal in London through Ulrik Saltnes, and the return of Patrick Berg from suspension was another source of optimism in their attempt to become the first Norwegian club to reach a UEFA club competition final.

The midfielder orchestrated many of his team's most promising attempts to slice through an organised and resolute Spurs defence, although they needed Haikin to push a curling Pedro Porro free-kick over the crossbar, before Guglielmo Vicario had to be alert to claw a Berg shot from outside the box behind.

Richarlison posed an early threat for SpursNTB/AFP via Getty Images

Spurs looked comfortable despite that scare, deservedly re-establishing their three-goal lead in the tie when Solanke – scorer of their decisive goal at Eintracht Frankfurt in the quarter-finals – swivelled to poke in after captain Cristian Romero had nodded down Mathys Tel's delivery from a corner.

Any hopes Bodø/Glimt had of recovering were all but extinguished when Pedro Porro then completed a neat crossfield passing sequence by curling the ball over Haikin and in via the far post from just outside the box on the right.

Pedro Porro and his fellow defenders rarely looked unduly troubled during the closing stages, holding off opponents who had averaged almost three goals a game at home in this season's Europa League.

Their reward is a tantalising final against Manchester United – and the confidence of this display will give the two-time UEFA Cup winners considerable belief that they can end the season with European silverware.

Philip O'Connor, reporting from Aspmyra

A gallant effort from Bodø/Glimt, but a hugely successful campaign comes to an end as a Spurs side oozing class advance to the final. The London club had that extra touch of quality, and most importantly they were able to show it in front of goal. Bodø/Glimt have proved they can compete at this level, however, and they will be looking to showcasing what they have learned when Champions League qualifying starts in the summer.

Reaction

Ange Postecoglou, Tottenham coach: "It's a difficult place to come. They've got a pretty good home record, fair to say – winning, scoring goals – and the lads handled it really well. We kept them to a minimum of any kind of threat and worked hard to keep them away from goal. We had the quality to score at the other end, so, over two legs, I'm really proud. We've just under two weeks to prepare for a big European final against another big club."

Tottenham boss Ange Postecoglou celebratesNTB/AFP via Getty Images

Dominic Solanke, Tottenham forward: "There's one more game to go, and hopefully we can do it. We knew it was going to be very difficult and Bodø/Glimt started well. We knew we had to be disciplined. The fans are phenomenal – the game at home was the same. Hopefully, the fans can make it to Bilbao and we'll have another special day."

Dejan Kulusevski, Tottenham midfielder: "The coach was very clear with what he wanted from me and from the other guys, so I just did my job and played strong. I knew that it was important to do everything right today and be very disciplined, and that got us the win. It felt great – everything felt great coming here to Norway and playing against a good team and reaching the final. It was a great day and I'm very happy. And now it's all focused on the final."

Kjetil Knutsen, Bodø/Glimt coach: "Tottenham deserve it and were much better than us. They are really good in the press – how they press a lot one against one and use time when they need to use time. I really feel we were not in the game at all. We learn from every game, every season. Playing international games is really important for us: for the individuals, for the team, for the club. But, at this level, you have to perform at your best, and unfortunately we were a little bit far away today."

Patrick Berg, Bodø/Glimt captain: "It is a big anti-climax for us. When a cross went in via the woodwork, I thought it wasn't our day. It is fully deserved that Tottenham progress. We've been preparing for a week and we really believed it was possible – then we face a Tottenham team that is extremely experienced. They have some defenders who are extremely good individually. They came in at the right time and stopped us, just when we thought we could create something. We have to use that as motivation. We have met a level that we have not met before, both physically and tactically."

Jens Petter Hauge, Bodø/Glimt forward: "When you look back at what we've done, one should be proud – the things we have had a chance to experience and the experiences we have had with our fans are something we value very highly. We will get a great benefit from the games we have been through, but there's no denying that we are disappointed today. Tottenham were very well prepared and they made it extremely difficult for us. I was impressed by them."

Key stats

• Tottenham are through to their fourth UEFA Cup/Europa League final, with this their first in the Europa League era.
• Winners of the inaugural edition of the UEFA Cup in 1971/72, their last final was in 1983/84, when they won the competition for the second time.
• The Premier League club have won the second leg in seven of their previous nine UEFA competition semi-final ties (D1 L1).
• They have won all six of their UEFA competition matches against Norwegian teams.
• Spurs have scored more goals (342) than any other team in UEFA Cup/Europa League history. Sporting CP are second with 321 goals.
• Bodø/Glimt lost for only the third time in their last 11 two-legged ties in UEFA competitions (W8), and failed to score for just the third time in 28 European games.

Line-ups

Bodø/Glimt: Haikin; Sjøvold, Moe (Nielsen 72), Gundersen, Bjørkan; Evjen, Berg, Saltnes (Auklend 72); Blomberg (Sørli 61), Høgh (Helmersen 61), Hauge (Määttä 82)

Tottenham: Vicario; Pedro Porro, Romero, Van de Ven, Udogie; Kulusevski, Bissouma, Bentancur; Johnson (Sarr 68), Solanke, Richarlison (Tel 61)