Sevilla won the Europa League for the seventh time

Sevilla became the winner of the first European Cup final this football season. In the decisive match of the Europa League, which took place at the Puskas Arena in Budapest, the Spanish club defeated Roma. In regular time, the finalists played 1:1, and in extra time – 0:0, after which they had to hit a penalty shootout, in which the Sevillas were more accurate – 4:1. Thus, for the seventh time they won the main trophy of the Europa League (formerly the UEFA Cup), with which they are now entitled to a ticket to the Champions League for next season.

A series of three European Cup finals with the constant participation of Italian clubs started with the Europa League, where Roma, led by the famous Jose Mourinho, reached the final stage of the tournament. The Portuguese, regarded as a trophy-winner, has previously won a total of five Champions League, UEFA Cup/Europa League and Conference League finals with different teams. True, his personal experience of big victories this time was opposed by the collective one, because Sevilla is the record holder for the number of titles in the second-ranking European Cup and has won it six times before. So in the finals, the score in the confrontation between Sevilla and Mourinho was in favor of the Spanish club – 6:5.

Before the next decisive match in Mourinho’s career, there was, in fact, one question – could his inherent pragmatism prevail over the sincere football of the Sevillians? Among the experts, almost no one doubted that Roma would supply the so-called “bus”. Actually, the head coach of Sevilla, Jose Luis Mendilibar, was also preparing for this. “The Romans are very strong in defense,” he said at a press conference. — They are comfortable if they need to defend close to their goal, but they can move higher and press. And they need very few chances to score and win.”

And there was also a lot of talk about Roma striker Paulo Dybala, who was called the de facto key figure of the final. The Argentine managed to recover from the injury and even train, but many assumed that Mourinho would still not dare to release his main creative from the first minutes and save him for the final segment of the match. However, Dybala ended up in the starting lineup.

As for Sevilla, in the semi-finals with Juventus, she lost a very important combat unit – full-back Marcos Acuna, who received a red card with subsequent disqualification. However, Mendilibar has a long bench, and he found quite an adequate replacement in the person of Alex Telles.

Meanwhile, with Dybala, Roma offered more open football than expected, and tried to put pressure just in the left zone of Telles. It was from there that the first dangerous moment came in the match, when Dybala and Zeki Celik seemed to create all the conditions for Leonardo Spinazzola to score a goal, but he struck too primitively for such a classy goalkeeper as Yassin Bunu, so the Moroccan calmly averted the threat. At the same time, Roma also defended reliably, and the Sevillas had absolutely nothing going on in attack. They fell on a rather straightforward tactic and, as a rule, banally threw the ball into the penalty area, hoping that the powerful and bouncy Youssef En-Nesiri would push the defenders there. However, wardrobes like Chris Smalling or Gianluca Mancini are not very crowded.

In general, the game was reduced to endless single combats and clashes, which often led to pauses, players lying on the lawn and discussions with referee Anthony Taylor. And in such a torn, extremely contact football, Roma felt more comfortable. And in the 35th minute, the Romans covered Sevilla with pressure in the central circle. Brian Cristante made the tackle, Mancini made a lightning-fast vertical pass to Dybala, who took advantage of the fact that the central defenders did not have time to get into the right position, worked on the ball at speed and sent it into the net past Bunu with a second touch. The Argentine striker did everything elegantly and at the same time simply. The handwriting of the great master was immediately visible.

For the Mourinho team, 1-0 is an almost ideal situation, allowing it to activate its signature “bus” mode to the maximum. True, even before the break, the Sevillian “ten” Ivan Rakitic with a somewhat stray blow from a distance almost knocked the Romans off the pantalik. Croatian loudly crashed into the post. Although Dybala could once again be noted in the protocol, now as the author of an assist, if Lorenzo Pellegrini had not overexposed the ball and hit on the move.

The first half, to which Taylor threw as many as seven minutes, ended in favor of Roma. But the second Sevilla started very aggressively. Mendilibar decided not to delay with substitutions and introduced a couple of his “jokers” into the game – Suso with Eric Lamela, who ensured victory in the second leg with Juventus. And the red-whites quickly leveled the score. In the 55th minute, the legend of the club, 37-year-old Jesus Navas filed into the penalty area in such a way that he made Mancini make a mistake, who scored a clean own goal. Roma had a rare opportunity to score from a set piece when Tammy Abraham and his teammates were able to get the ball over the end line. Bunu rescued Sevilla. However, the Roman defense was still under more powerful pressure. The Sevillians even almost earned a penalty when Lucas Ocampos rushed to the net and fell beautifully after contact with Roger Ibanez. Taylor first reacted to the fall of the Argentine and pointed to the “point”, but he was corrected by assistants from the VAR brigade, who did not see sufficient grounds for a 11-meter penalty.

Even in the 68th minute, Dybala was replaced by Roma, who was clearly not ready to run back the whole match, and center forward Abraham, who did not look the best, left the field behind him. At the same time, Andrea Belotti, who came out instead of the Englishman, could become the hero of the final when he struck a volley after a cunning set-piece. Bunu hooked the ball literally with the tips of his glove. And at Sevilla, before the final whistle, Suso tried to snatch a victory for his team, tightly charged from behind the penalty area. Goalkeeper Rui Patricio was on the alert, but gave the opponents a chance to finish off, and the yellow-reds barely fought back.

As a result, the main time of the final ended in a draw – 1:1. And a similar scenario, when the teams continue to sort things out in an additional 30 minutes, initially seemed the most likely. And there it all went to a penalty shootout. In the first overtime, the players generally forgot about the goal and preferred not to risk it. After a symbolic break, Sevilla more often owned the ball and stayed in the opponent’s half, and Gonzalo Montiel even organized a sharp moment, penetrating into the penalty area on the right, but the Romans intercepted his pass. In the end, already “Roma” overlaid the gates of Bunu, and Smalling, after another overhang from the standard, hit the crossbar with his head.

Taylor added six minutes, and the finalists outplayed all 11, but they did not manage to avoid a penalty shoot-out. And here Mourinho’s wards faltered. Mancini and then Ibanez lost their duel to Bun. With the score 3:1, Montiel did not score against the Sevillas, but VAR determined a violation of the rules by Patricio, who moved off the ribbon before hitting with both feet. On the second try Montiel didn’t miss and Sevilla won their favorite trophy again with a fantastic seven victories in seven finals. Well, in addition to the main trophy of the Europa League, the Spanish club got another ticket to the next Champions League.

Alexander Ilyin