By Thomas Durning
Sevilla claims seventh Europa League trophy
Sevilla have won the Europa League for a record seventh time after defeating Roma on penalties. In a tightly contested 120 minutes of football, defender Gonzalo Montiel stepped up to claim Sevilla another Europa League trophy and also give Jose Mourinho his first loss in a European final.
Sevilla made seven changes to the side that lost to Real Madrid on Saturday with Gonzalo Montiel, Karim Rekik, Marcos Acuna, Manu Bueno, Erik Lamela, Papu Gomez, and Rafa Mir coming out of the team, and they were replaced by Jesus Navas, Loic Bade, Alex Telles, Fernando, Lucas Ocampos, Oliver Torres, and Youssef En-Nesyri.
Roma made ten changes to the side that lost to Fiorentina on Saturday with Mile Svilar, Filippo Missori, Diego Llorente, Nicola, Zalewski, Benjamin, Tahirovic, Ola Solbakken, Edoardo Bove, Georgino Wijnaldum, Stephan El Shaarawy, and Andrea Belotti coming out of the team and they were replaced by Rui Patricio, Gianluca Mancini, Roger Ibanez, Zeki Celik, Bryan Cristante, Nemanja Matic, Leonardo Spinazzola, Paulo Dybala, Lorenzo Pellegrini, and Tammy Abraham.
The first chance of the game fell to Roma in the 11th minute after defender Celik’s cut back pass found Spinazzola unmarked and from twelve yards out the defender managed to get his shot on target, but it was too close to keeper Bounou.
The first half an hour of this match was cagey as Sevilla were dominating the ball however, they struggled to break through Roma’s tough 5-3-2 defensive shape and as a result of this Spinazzola’s chance in the 11th minute was the only shot recorded when the match entered the 30th minute.
However, in the 34th minute, Roma’s plan seemed to be working as they scored the first goal of this final. After Sevilla appealed for a foul which was not given, defender Mancini managed to step into midfield and his well-timed pass found Dybala in space who shifted the ball onto his left foot and tucked it into the bottom right-hand corner.
Sevilla was unhappy with this as they felt Rakitic was fouled by Matic and as a result of their protesting, the referee booked substitute Rafa Mir for dissent on the touchline.
It was time for Sevilla to react to going a goal down and in the 44th minute, they had a chance to level after a corner from the Spanish side was met by midfielder Fernando, but his header went over the bar despite him having space and time.
Sevilla best spell of the first half came in added time and in the 46th minute of added time, they had a shot that hit the post after midfielder Rakitic decided to hit a left footed shot from 25 yards, but it hit the inside of the post.
This was to be the last action of the first half and Sevilla would go into half time disappointed that they had not tested Roma’s defence enough whereas Roma would be happy with going a goal up as their defensive shape seemed to be working.
The second half got underway and after making a couple of attacking changes at half time, Sevilla started the half much brighter.
In the 52nd minute, defender Alex Telles had a shot that just went over the bar after the ball was passed to him by Lamela.
Three minutes later and Sevilla scored which got them back into the game. After a cross from the right-hand side by Navas, Ocampos tried to reach the ball at the front post but as he failed to connect, the ball instead connected with Roma defender Mancini and ended up in the back of his own net.
The pressure at the start of the second half proved successful for Sevilla and once again the match was even.
Roma had to respond as they had started the second half poorly and in the 67th minute, they had the next big chance of the game after a free kick by Pellegrini was headed down by Ibanez, striker Abraham tried to tuck the ball in the net while turning but from six yards out, it was saved by keeper Bounou and on the rebound, Ibanez scuffed his shot wide of the post.
This was a let off for Sevilla as they had all the possession but after scoring the goal, weren’t creating clear cut chances.
However, in the 76th minute, the Spanish side had a great chance as Sevilla were awarded a penalty. After Ocampos managed to find his way into the box, defender Mancini dangled a foot which brought Ocampos down and after protests from the Sevilla players, referee Anthony Taylor pointed to the spot.
The penalty was quickly ruled out after the referee was asked to go and look at VAR and after looking, he decided no penalty as he found out that Mancini had not done enough to award Sevilla the penalty.
In the 83rd minute, Roma had a great chance after a quick free kick from the Italian side managed to find Belotti in space, but his left footed volley went wide of the post as he did not connect with the ball properly.
The remaining minutes of the match, both teams were giving everything to try and win the trophy in 90 minutes however it wasn’t to be, and the referee blew the whistle for extra time.
The 1st half of extra time got underway and for the full fifteen minutes of the half, neither team were taking a risk to try and score a goal and therefore despite both teams making substitutions, the referee blew the whistle to end the first half of extra time.
Again, the second half of extra time proved to be difficult for both teams as they struggled to get a flow in the half with much of the time being taken away due to substitutions and players going down injured.
However, in the 132nd minute of added time, there was nearly a dramatic ending as Roma hit the crossbar.
After a corner was swung in, defender Smalling managed to get to the back post and his header looped up into the air and hit the top of the post. It could have ended dramatically however this was to be the last action of extra time and the trophy would be decided on penalties.
After both teams scored there first penalty, it all went wrong for Roma as the next two were saved by Bounou and despite having to retake his penalty, defender Montiel managed to tuck the ball away and win Sevilla the Europa League.
Sevilla: Bono, Navas (Montiel 95’) Bade, Gudelj (Marcao 128’) Telles (Rekik 95’) Fernando (Jordan 129’) Rakitic, Ocampos, Torres (Suso 45’) Gil (Lamela 45’) En Nesyri
Subs not used: Mir, Gomez, Nianzou, Flores, Dmitrovic, Bueno
Roma: Patricio, Mancini, Smalling, Ibanez, Celik (Zalewski 90’) Cristante, Matic (Bove 120’) Spinazzola (Llorente 105’) Dybala (Wijnaldum 68’) Pellegrini (El Shaarawy 105’) Abraham (Belotti 75’)
Subs not used: Tahirovic, Karsdorp, Camara, Svilar, Boer, Volpato
Referee: Anthony Taylor
Reporter: Thomas Durning
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