Sevilla win Europa League for seventh time after shootout victory over Roma
SEVENTH HEAVEN: Sevilla players celebrate after winning the penalty shoot-out of the UEFA Europa League Final. Pic credit: Adam Davy/PA Wire.
THE irresistible force of Sevilla overcame the immovable object of Jose Mourinho’s unbeaten record in European finals to claim yet another Europa League title for the La Liga side.
A ferocious, ill-mannered contest on the pitch as well as between both benches was decided by a penalty shootout.
Gianluca Mancini and Roger Ibanez saw their penalties saved by Sevilla keeper Yassine Bono before Gonzalo Montiel struck the winning spot-kick, just as he did for Argentina in the World Cup final.
For once, Mourinho – the man with a plan for the big occasion – could not summon up his customary magic as Sevilla made it seven European titles in the past 18 seasons.
It was a match that tested the patience and control of English referee Anthony Taylor who issued at least a dozen yellow cards, including one to Mourinho, as well at least a couple more to backroom staff on both sides.
As so often in Mourinho’s charismatic career, the final was built around his personality, seemingly taking on by himself a Sevilla club which claims ownership of this competition.
The contest was billed as the team which had never lost a European final against the coach who had never lost one.
Entering the match with a share of the title of most decorated coach in European competition history with Giovanni Trapattoni, Mourinho was hoping to stand alone with his sixth European club trophy.
It was the Special One’s 226th game as a coach in European competition. For his Sevilla counterpart, Jose Luis Mendilibar, it was just his seventh. His prior experience came in the more prosaic surroundings of the Intertoto Cup with Athletic Bilbao in 2005.
While Mourinho has flitted around Europe’s elite clubs, from Real Madrid to Chelsea, Manchester United to Inter Milan, 62-year-old Mendilibar has journeyed around Spain, an efficient rather than spectacular coach for whom Sevilla is his 12th club.
“History doesn’t play” was Mourinho’s pre-game quip to dismiss that imbalance in experience, another one-liner to add to his extensive catalogue.
It doesn’t, yet somehow the Portuguese’s personality seemingly envelops his players in a cloak of invincibility, especially in cup competitions.
Currently sixth in Serie A and without a win in their past seven league matches, Roma are a side transformed in Europe.
Last season’s Europa Conference League triumph brought their first trophy in 11 seasons, while the prize on offer at Budapest’s Puskas Arena was a place in next season’s Champions League.
As if the Italian side needed any further encouragement, the sight of flamboyant striker Paulo Dybala returning from an ankle injury provided it.
It was the Argentine’s pull-back which fashioned the game’s first chance after 12 minutes when Leonardo Spinazzola’s rising right-foot shot was beaten away by Sevilla keeper Yassine Bono.
Sevilla’s patient passing game, by contrast, was making few indentations in the Roma back-line. Tetchy and tempestuous in equal measure, the contest sprang to life after 35 minutes.
As Sevilla’s Ivan Rakitic dallied in the centre circle, the ball sprang loose to Gianluca Mancini whose inch-perfect pass was slid perfectly into the path of Dybala. One touch to cushion the pass was followed by a firm, precise left-foot shot across Bono and into the far bottom corner.
The Spanish side responded with a Fernando header over the bar from a Sevilla corner, but came within the width of the post of securing an equaliser in the sixth minute of first-half injury time.
This time Rakitic was sure-footed with a 20-yard left-footed drive which thudded against the Roma post with Rui Patricio beaten and somehow missed the keeper as it rebounded to safety.
Mendilibar responded to his side’s half-time deficit by bringing on Suso and former Tottenham player Erik Lamela at the interval. Suso’s energy was particularly effective in the early stages of the second period.
The La Liga side needed only to look back to the quarter-finals for inspiration, having recovered from a 2-0 deficit to draw 2-2 with Manchester United at Old Trafford on their way to an aggregate victory.
That fightback featured two own goals. Incredibly, Sevilla equalised through the same route 10 minutes into the second half.
If Suso was the inspiration, the telling contribution came from Jesus Navas. The former Manchester City winger played in Sevilla’s first European success in 2006, a 4-0 thrashing of Steve McClaren’s Middlesbrough when this competition went under the guise of the UEFA Cup.
His cross from the right was turned into his own net by Mancini under pressure from Lucas Ocampos.
Roma almost regained the lead in a goalmouth scramble when Bono bravely saved a close-range Tammy Abraham effort before Roger Ibanez dribbled a shot wide.
English referee Anthony Taylor then overturned his 76th-minute decision to award Sevilla a penalty after Ocampos initially appeared to have been tripped by Ibanez.
Abraham’s replacement Andrea Belotti sliced his shot from a clever free-kick routine as play swung to the other end.
That was before tension took over and led to a dreary extra-time period, at least until the final seconds when Chris Smalling’s looping header came back off the Sevilla bar.
It was the precursor to the drama of the penalty shootout as the clock ticked towards Thursday morning in Budapest.
CONNECT WITH US TODAY
Be the first to know the latest news and updates
