For Manchester United, winning the Europa League is not just about lifting another trophy. It is about survival. After their worst season since being relegated in 1974, hoisting Europe's second-biggest prize in Bilbao on May 21 would take the club back to where they both want to be and - financially - need to be: the Champions League.
For the last 30 years, United have been run as if they were always in or at least aiming to be in Europe's top competition, meaning the wage bill hasn't been altered even when they missed out on qualification. Failing to win the Europa League, though, would mean missing out on the Champions League for two consecutive seasons, something that has never happened since the club first entered the competition in 1993.
But more than pride is at stake for United. Being in Europe's top competition is worth around £100 million ($134m) and could ward off fears about financial meltdown and meeting the Premier League's Profit and Sustainability obligations. It would also make United more attractive to players in the summer transfer window, which is crucial to shaping next season. As manager Ruben Amorim put it last month: "Being in the Champions League can change everything."
Things are very different for Athletic Club, the team who stand in United's way of reaching the final. Athletic are having their best La Liga season in 11 years and already on course to return to the Champions League after more than a decade away. That will be their only third campaign in Europe's top competition, and they will savour it. And so with fourth-place domestically all-but secured, the Europa League is fundamentally about glory to the Basques who have the chance to win a European trophy for the first time in the club's history.
But this season's compettion is even more important than the UEFA Cup final in 1977 or the Europa League final in 2012, both of which they lost. This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to lift the trophy on home soil - and they are not going to give it up without a real fight.
