Europa League final: How Man Utd & Tottenham fans are taking great lengths to reach Bilbao

Manchester United supporter Sue McGranigan is taking a different route to the final, opting instead to traverse the full length of France by road.

She set off by coach at 02:45 BST on Tuesday morning and will arrive in Bilbao around Wednesday lunchtime following a ferry from Dover to Calais, a nine-hour coach to Bordeaux, where she will stay overnight, and a final four-hour coach ride to the Spanish city on the morning of the match.

“It’s a lot cheaper. It’s cost about £350 to come on the coach whereas direct flights were £900. It’s a long journey – I’ve had about half-an-hour’s sleep,” she said, speaking to BBC Radio 5 Live from just outside London.

“But the coach is very quiet. It’s all United fans and I thought they’d be drinking and singing, but it’s really peaceful.”

Adam Paterson, meanwhile, will cover more than 2,500 miles to reach Spain. The United fan will leave Manchester with friends Dylan Heath and Will Baldwin on Tuesday afternoon and fly via Dublin, Paris, and Rome before landing in Bilbao just hours before kick-off.

“We just thought why not? It’s not every week you’re in a European final,” said Adam, explaining his “weird and wonderful” journey to BBC Radio Manchester.

“That’s not even the worst bit of it – we don’t even have a hotel. We will just have to pull an all-nighter.”

Optimistic Spurs fans Arun, Ed, and Justin beat the high prices by finalising their travel plans before Tottenham’s place in the final was confirmed.

They flew from Stansted to Barcelona before hiring a car for the 370-mile drive to Bilbao.

“We booked our flights two weeks before the final in anticipation. Luckily we got here. We had the belief,” they said.