Micky van de Ven explains what 'unbelievable' Cristian Romero did for Tottenham that was so crucial

Micky van de Ven believes that his Tottenham centre-back partner Cristian Romero helped guide him and the team through to the Europa League final with his big game experience.

will take their place in the final in Bilbao on May 21 against Manchester United following a dominant couple of semi-final legs against Bodo/Glimt, including a 2-0 win in Norway with goals from and Pedro Porro to secure a 5-1 aggregate victory.

Tottenham's defence never looked like conceding at the Aspmyra Stadion where Bodo have a fearsome record and had plenty of praise for , his captain on the night, for making his own evening a more comfortable one.

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The Argentine has won the World Cup and two Copa America titles and brought all of his experience on the biggest stages to the artificial pitch in the small Norwegian town.

"Cuti's an unbelievable player. You can see that mentality-wise. With the ball, without the ball. He knows how it is to play these types of games," said the young Dutchman.

"You can see it in how he is, he shows so much to the rest, he helps the whole team. My partnership with Cuti, we feel each other. He knows what to do, I know what to do. We back each other."

delivered a heartfelt speech to his players before the celebrations began in the dressing room in Norway.

"The atmosphere in the dressing room is unbelievable. We're in a European final, one game away from a trophy and I think the mentality we showed was unbelievable," said Van de Ven.

"We showed a lot of discipline. Also the Frankfurt away game, we kept a clean sheet and won over there. Everybody had doubts when we came over here because Bodo/Glimt were doing unbelievably in their home games in Europe.

"So we knew from the beginning it was going to be a really tough game but we showed discipline, mentality. We did what we needed to do, we got a clean sheet and now we go to Bilbao."

The centre-back admitted that it was a "good feeling" to prove Tottenham's doubters wrong and for the Dutchman, May's showpiece final brings a huge bookend to what has been a difficult campaign on a personal level with a couple of hamstring injuries ruling him out for months.

"Yeah, of course for me personally it's a tough season. I didn't play a lot of games but now I'm going to play a European final, the first final of my career. For me, unbelievable. A season with ups and downs and hopefully I can end up with more positive things," he said.

"To be in a European final with Tottenham is a big thing for the fans and the club. For me personally, I'm really proud to be part of it."

Ruben Amorim's United side lie in wait for Spurs in Bilbao and although the north London outfit have triumphed in all three of the meetings between the clubs this season, Van de Ven is not resting on his laurels.

"They played Athletic Club, a really good team, and it was 7-1 over the two games. So they've also shown some real quality in Europe," he said. "We know it's going to be a different game, everything can happen in a final.

"But we're not going there with fear, of course. We know our qualities, we know it's going to be a difficult game, Man United showed their quality in this European campaign.

"Everybody goes to Bilbao to win a trophy. It has been a tough season and it will only be successful if we win the Europa League and get the trophy."