Every Tottenham fan will remember where they were one year ago today. Maybe they were in the lucky thousands inside the San Mames stadium in Bilbao. Maybe they went to the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, or the surrounding pubs, to be part of a communal experience there. Maybe they watched it in a Spurs bar somewhere else in the world, or at home with the people they love to share Tottenham with.But wherever you were on May 21 2025, some things will be the same. The desperation for it to be different from the Champions League final in Madrid six years before. The pride in seeing how well-represented Tottenham were in the stadium. The momentary disbelief at how the ball diverted off Luke Shaw and Brennan Johnson and into the net. The nerves in the second half as Spurs defended their lead. The ecstasy at the final whistle. The pride. And above all, more than anything else, the sense that a great cosmic weight had been lifted from the whole Tottenham community.To call it a ‘historic’ occasion barely comes close to conveying its significance. For a whole generation of Spurs fans, it was the greatest night, not just the win itself but the trophy parade on the Friday, when hundreds of thousands of fans came back to Tottenham to celebrate and commune. It felt like it could be a transformative moment for the club, a dividing line between before and after.Delirious Tottenham fans celebrate Europa League success with Richarlison (Ryan Pierse/Getty Images)It certainly felt as if it was the climactic point of so many long stories with Spurs. The perfect end to Son Heung-min’s 10 years at the club. The conclusion of six years of drift following the 2019 Champions League final and the move to the new stadium. The vindication of the appointment of Ange Postecoglou, the return to progressive football, and perhaps the launch pad to greater things.Now we can argue all day about why this has not proven to be the case, about how Tottenham Hotspur as an institution has squandered the legacy of Bilbao over the last year. It is hard to imagine how things could have gone any worse in the last 12 months. That is a conversation for another day.