Tottenham Hotspur Future: Lessons to Learn from Real Zaragoza's Past

After the heartbreak of Saturday's Champions League final, Tottenham are still reeling.

Missing out on the Champions League despite achieving the ultimate goal of a top-four finish has seemingly sent Spurs into a state of shock.

News from the club has gone unusually quiet, though this may be explained by the summer holidays and EURO 2012 preparations.

Supporters, on the other hand, seem to be going through the stages of grief at their own paces, from denial to anger to depression.

As we adjust to the reality of another year without Champions League football, this article is here for those of you who are in the final three stages, are ready to work through this and look forward to next season.

Now, it is easy to think, in the midst of Tottenham's woes, that we are the first to suffer this cruel fate.

After all, Spurs are the first Premier League side to finish in the top four and not be given a Champions League bid.

However, there is one other European side to go through a similar set of circumstances: Real Zaragoza.

In the 1999-2000 season, Zaragoza finished fourth in La Liga, one point behind second and one point clear of fifth-placed Real Madrid thanks in part to a 5-1 victory at the Bernabeu.

However, in that season's Champions League, Real Madrid cruised to the title with Raul's 10 goals and a 3-0 victory over Valencia in the final.

Given the option of sending either Zaragoza or Madrid to the Champions League, Spain's federation chose the defending champions.

So how did this impact Zaragoza?

Well, from there, the club fell apart.

Manager Jose Francisco Rojo left for Athletic Bilbao and was replaced by Juan Manuel Lillo.

Leading scorer Savo Milosevic, who had 21 league goals that season, went to Parma and left behind the heartbreak he had just encountered.

At their first hurdle, Zaragoza were eliminated from the UEFA Cup by Wisla Krakow; the incredible fashion in which they were eliminated, giving up a four-goal lead and losing on penalties, led to Lillo's sacking after just three months in charge.

In the 2000-01 La Liga season, Zaragoza finished 17th, just one point ahead of relegation.

The next season, they were relegated, finishing 20th.

In the 12 seasons since that fourth-place finish, Zaragoza have had a finish in the top half of La Liga just once, yet have been relegated twice.

So what does this tell us about Tottenham's future?

Well, not necessarily too much.

Spurs are in a very different place than Zaragoza was: This was Zaragoza's best finish in six years, so their fourth-place finish may have just been an outlier.

Also, there's no saying that their club would not have fallen apart even with Champions League football; perhaps the departures and subsequent poor seasons were bound to happen anyway.

However, what this does tell us about Tottenham's future is the slippery slope that they could encounter if they are not careful.

As disappointing this season's end may have been, Spurs must do all they can to hold onto their manager and prized commodities.

As philosopher George Santayana coined in his work The Life of Reason: "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it."

Tottenham must remember Real Zaragoza's past and learn from their recent history.