Sevilla won the Europa League for the seventh time in the night from Wednesday to Thursday. The Spaniards were too strong for coach José Mourinho’s AS Roma in Budapest after penalties, after the final had ended 1-1 after extra time.
Paulo Dybala made the opening goal for AS Roma ten minutes before the break. Early in the second half, Giovanni Mancini equalized with an own goal. In both regular time and extra time, no more goals were scored, after which Sevilla was the strongest 4-1 in the penalty series.
At Roma, Georginio Wijnaldum came in more than twenty minutes before the end and Rick Karsdorp remained on the bench. Karim Rekik came on for Sevilla in extra time.
Thanks to the victory over Roma, Sevilla remains unbeaten in the finals in the Europa League (formerly UEFA Cup). The Spaniards previously won the European club tournament in 2006, 2007, 2014, 2015, 2016 and 2020.
For Mourinho, the defeat ends an unbeaten run in European finals. Last year he led Roma to the Conference League at the expense of Feyenoord (1-0) and in 2017 the Portuguese won the Europa League with Manchester United at the expense of Ajax (2-0). He previously won the Champions League (2004) and the UEFA Cup (2003) with FC Porto and the Champions League with Internazionale (2010).
Dybala puts Roma ahead
In a swirling Puskás Aréna, the first big chance was for AS Roma. After twelve minutes, Leonardo Spinazzola appeared in front of the enemy goal, but his effort was turned by Sevilla keeper Yassine Bounou.
In the remainder of the first half, the game mainly took place in midfield and both teams took little risk until ten minutes before the break. Then Dybala found the goal after a beautiful pass through the middle of Mancini. Mourinho announced before the final that Dybala could only play for half an hour, but the Argentinian was just in the starting line-up.
Sevilla then went on the hunt for the equalizer and was very close to it just before halftime. Ivan Rakitic tried from distance with the left and saw his attempt explode on the post.
Sevilla quickly equalized after the break
Roma also leaned on defense at the start of the second half and Mourinho’s team was surrounded by Sevilla. That resulted in the equalizer ten minutes after the break. A cross from Jesús Navas was worked into his own goal by Mancini.
Roma had a great chance moments later on a scrimmage in front of Sevilla’s goal, but Tammy Abraham, Chris Smalling and Roger Ibañez failed to make it 2-1. Fifteen minutes before the end, referee Anthony Taylor pointed to the spot when Lucas Ocampos went to the ground, but Sevilla did not receive a penalty on the advice of the VAR.
Both teams then continued to hunt for the winning goal, although no more goals were scored in regular time. Andrea Belotti was closest to 2-1 on behalf of Roma, but he too could not prevent extra time.
In that extra time it was tough and Smalling headed on behalf of Roma on the crossbar, but no more goals were scored. As a result, a penalty series had to be involved and Sevilla turned out to be the strongest. Mancini and Ibañez missed for Roma, while all Sevilla players hit the target.
2023-05-31 22:03:43
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