Having had clouds hanging over their heads at the beginning of the season, two of Tottenham Hotspur’s senior players are now expected to start against Manchester United in the Europa League final on Wednesday evening.
Last summer, Rodrigo Bentancur was being investigated by the Football Association for allegedly making a racist comment about his team-mate Son Heung-min while video footage on social media appeared to show Yves Bissouma inhaling nitrous oxide, which is also known as NOS, laughing gas or hippie crack.
Spurs suspended Bissouma for the opening game of the season, a 1-1 draw with Leicester City, and Bentancur received a seven-game ban from the FA in November after an independent regulatory commission found the Uruguay international guilty of an aggravated breach of their rules for his remarks about Son.
They have had mixed fortunes since then. Bentancur and Bissouma play in the same position and have been competing against each other for minutes. Bentancur missed a lot of matches due to his ban and two separate concussions but has emerged as Ange Postecoglou’s first-choice defensive midfielder over the last few months.
However, due to injuries suffered by Lucas Bergvall, James Maddison and Dejan Kulusevski, this unlikely partnership should play together in Bilbao as Spurs attempt to win silverware for the first time since 2008.
The first press conference of a new season is usually a routine affair. Managers talk about what they hope to achieve in the season ahead and perhaps address a few lingering transfer issues; but Postecoglou delivered a shock to everybody in the room on August 16 when he addressed Bissouma’s behaviour.
“He has made a really poor decision,” Postecoglou said. “He has responsibilities to his team-mates, our supporters and everyone associated with the club and he failed in those duties. There have got to be sanctions for that. We have suspended him for Monday’s game.”
Bissouma was left out of the Spurs squad for the draw with Leicester, with Postecoglou saying he needed to rebuild trust with his team-mates and the coaching staff. The Australian had no choice but to start Bissouma in the next game because Bentancur suffered a concussion in the first half against Leicester.
Bentancur only started 10 of Tottenham’s first 23 league games due to two head injuries and his ban, but Bissouma struggled to impress in his absence. Spurs were leading Chelsea 2-1 in December when the Mali international lunged into a tackle on Moises Caicedo and conceded a penalty. Bissouma had been stripped of the ball by Pedro Neto on the halfway line and made the situation worse in his desperation to atone for the initial error. Cole Palmer scored from the spot and Chelsea went on to win 4-3.
It wasn’t the last time a lapse from Bissouma could be said to have cost Spurs in a big game.
Arsenal had just equalised in January’s north London derby when Bissouma received the ball in midfield and tried to dribble past Thomas Partey. The 28-year-old lost the ball and Leandro Trossard scored Arsenal’s winner on the counter.
Bissouma is technically gifted, capable of receiving the ball under pressure and wriggling in between opposition players. He does not have the same ability to break up play as other holding midfielders, but among all defensive and central midfielders with 900-plus minutes played, Bissouma has the 10th highest tackle win rate this season.
He has a fantastic relationship with some of the younger, French-speaking members of the squad including Wilson Odobert, Pape Sarr and Mathys Tel. When Micky van de Ven injured his hamstring in October’s 2-1 victory over Manchester City in the Carabao Cup and walked down the tunnel in tears, Bissouma left the substitutes bench to run after him. He did the exact same last weekend when Dejan Kulusevski hobbled off the pitch against Crystal Palace with a knee injury.
The frustration with Bissouma is how inconsistent he can often be. In March, he was substituted at half-time in successive league games — against Bournemouth and Fulham — when Spurs were losing. Following the 2-0 defeat to Fulham at Craven Cottage, Postecoglou said Bissouma “can sometimes let the game drift him by”.
“He needs to be a little bit more dominant in the way he gets on the ball,” the 59-year-old said. “At times I think the game gets away from him and today we needed more in that position. I needed him to play though, because he hasn’t played a lot. At the same time you’ve got to perform. It’s fair to say Biss and a few others are probably lacking a bit of confidence. That’s affecting him but we’re at the point of the season now where we need guys to get out there and put those things to one side and perform.”
This is why it was such a surprise to see Bissouma produce disciplined performances in each leg of the Europa League semi-final against Bodo/Glimt. He did not play a single minute of the quarter-final tie against Eintracht Frankfurt but stepped up when really needed.
Bissouma produced solid displays against Bodo/Glimt (Alex Pantling/UEFA/Getty Images)
“I love (Bissouma) though because he has had his own issues this year,” Postecoglou said before Spurs lost 2-0 to Crystal Palace. “I spoke to him about a month ago. He was in and out of the team. I just had a feeling in my gut. I said: ‘Biss, we are going to need you at the crucial time. I don’t know when that is going to be but we are going to need you and if we get the best Biss we can do something special’.
“He has delivered. Through that time he never put his head down and complained. He knew that he could be doing better and he wanted to push on. So I’m really proud of him and the way he has handled everything this year.”
Despite Bissouma’s off-field issues and erratic form, he has a strong relationship with the head coach who he affectionately refers to as “Uncle Ange”.
“He is always protecting us every game whether we lose or win,” Bissouma told a group of reporters including The Athletic last week. “He has got a top mentality. He understands football. He is not up and down and he never blames players.
“This season was a bit hard for me because I didn’t play much but the most important thing is the team. I’m here just to work and when my time comes, I play. As a professional you have to be ready. You have to understand, this is not just about yourself but you are part of a group. You can’t control things sometimes but the only thing I know is you have to work hard. Never give up, be ready when the team needs you. That is the thing you need to do.”
It is unclear what lies ahead for Bissouma this summer. He has a year left on his contract and Bentancur is in the exact same position. When Postecoglou was asked about Bentancur’s future in February, he said the midfielder had been “great” and was “a really good guy around the group”. The suggestion was that Bentancur would be offered a new deal.
Bentancur’s contract expires in 2026 (Ben Whitley/Getty Images)
Before this season, Bentancur had never managed to play in more than 24 league games in a campaign (he is on 25 appearances in 2024-25) due to injury, while he damaged his relationship with a section of the fanbase following his comments about Son. Bentancur apologised to the South Korea international publicly, and in private, but denied the FA’s charge.
In the FA’s written reasons for Bentancur’s punishment, the report said it was “greatly to his credit” that he took responsibility for his comments so quickly. “It was not to his credit that, thereafter, he elected to deny the charge on grounds which, on their face, undermined that initial, commendable reaction,” the report said, before concluding that his remorse “was and is genuine”. It was a messy situation and it will have stung some supporters that he was given the captain’s armband against Palace.
When Spurs signed Archie Gray from Leeds United last year, in a deal worth up to £40m ($53.1m), the long-term plan was to deploy him as a No 6. Gray has mainly featured in defence this season but has played in midfield a few times in the last couple of months. Would he learn more from Bissouma or Bentancur if only one of them stays? Or would it be better if Spurs sold both of them and signed a more experienced, specialist holding midfielder to tutor Gray?
It is much easier to pinpoint what Bentancur offers. On average, the 27-year-old makes 5.3 interceptions per 1,000 opposition touches which is more than any other midfielder with a minimum of 900 minutes in the Premier League this season. He is excellent at blocking passing lanes and ranks second for ball recoveries (11.5 per 1,000 opposition touches).
Bissouma and Bentancur have only started together eight times in all competitions and it is difficult to identify any clear pattern. In theory, Bentancur would sit slightly deeper against United but without Kulusevski, Maddison and Bergvall, he might be required higher up the pitch. He has scored nine times in 111 appearances for Spurs compared to Bissouma who has two goals in 98 matches.
Tottenham’s passing networks from their 2-0 victory over Brentford and defeat to Fulham earlier this year highlight how Bissouma and Bentancur alternate between which side of the pitch they operate on.
And how high up they play.
Spurs will be without their three best playmakers against United in the final and Postecoglou needs to find a way to replace their creativity. Odobert moved into the No 10 role against Palace following Kulusevski’s injury while Dominic Solanke has experience of operating as a deeper centre-forward at his previous clubs. Postecoglou has not ruled out any wild experiments as he looks for an answer.
“I doubt you’d do a serious departure from what we have been doing in terms of our overall structure but at the same time you have to find solutions within the context of what we have available to give us the best chance of success,” Postecoglou said.
If Odobert or Solanke slot into an advanced midfield role, then it will be crucial Bissouma and Bentancur provide defensive balance. Or, they might form a trio with Pape Matar Sarr who can threaten Ruben Amorim’s side with his late runs into the box and ability to score from distance.
Whatever happens, it feels certain that they will both start in Bilbao, which seemed an unlikely scenario for Bissouma just a few weeks ago. After a disrupted and challenging season individually and collectively, they have the opportunity to end it in the best way possible.
(Top photos: Getty Images)