The Europa League queen wins again. Jose Mourinho lost in the final!

Sevilla is the most successful team in Europa League history. Since the change in formula, the Spaniards have won the competition four times and twice before when it was still called the UEFA Cup. Roma, the historic winner of the first edition of the European Conference League, wanted to snatch a fifth European victory from Sevilla.

The first opportunity in this year’s Europa League final was created by players from Italy. In the 12th minute, Leonardo Spinazzola received a return pass ten meters away. The midfielder shot from the first ball and, admittedly, hit the goal, but the Sevilla goalkeeper showed an excellent intervention.

Europa League Final: Dybala’s brilliant goal

We saw the first goal only in the 35th minute. Paulo Dybala received a perpendicular pass from deep. The world champion ran with the ball into the penalty area and beat Bono with a straight shot to the far post. At the 44th minute, Pellegrini collapsed in the Sevilla penalty area, demanding a penalty, but the referee did not fail and punished him with a yellow card for simulation.

In the 5th minute of added time, Ivan Rakitic, as before Pellegrini, got a backball, but already outside the penalty area. The Croatian hummed without receiving, and although the ball went past Patricio, he hit the post. Replays showed that the bounced ball almost hit the back of the Portuguese goalkeeper and rolled into the goal. José Mourijo’s players were very lucky in this case. We did not see more goals until the end of the first half.

Sevilla equalized in the second half

From the beginning of the second half, Sevilla began to catch up, but the bus put by Jose Mourinho’s wards did not allow the opponents to play. Only in the 51st minute, Alex Telles made his way into the penalty area and tried to beat the Roma goalkeeper with a strong blow, but this attempt was very inaccurate.

At the 54th minute, Mendilibar’s wards equalized the score. Jesus Navas shot from the right flank. The ball missed a defender standing at the near post and was caught in an unsuccessful intervention by Mancini, who sent the ball into his own net.

In the 66th minute, Roma were close to taking the lead again after Pellegrini’s pass. The reflected ball hit the legs of Abraham, who was standing on the fifth meter, and tried to roll over Bono. The goalkeeper parried the blow, but missed the ball, which bounced off the feet of the Sevilla players one after another. In the end, he finally hit the leg of Ibanez, who was a poor skier and didn’t even hit the target.

Controversial penalty situation

In the 75th minute, Anthony Taylor awarded a penalty to Sevilla. Due to the fact that the situation was unclear, the referee ran to the VAR monitor and, after reviewing the replays, decided to change his mind. Seven minutes later, Jose Mourinho’s wards deftly performed a free kick. Pellegrini fired a soft cross at Belotti, who opportunely struck the first ball, but the attempt narrowly missed the mark.

Rui Patricio made a mistake in the last minute of stoppage time of the second half, which could have had disastrous consequences. The goalkeeper, after hitting from afar, spat out the ball, and one of the Sevilla players hit him, who got stuck and eventually did not find his way to the Roma goal. Moments after this action, the referee ended that part of the match, which meant that overtime would begin moments later.

Europa League Final: extra time and penalties

Only in extra time, Nikola Zalewski registered on the field, who, in the 95th minute, tried his luck and hit Bono’s goal. However, the Pole’s blow was blocked. In extra time, the score did not change, so the winner had to be determined by penalties.

In a series of eleven, the players of Sevilla, who won the competition for the fifth time, kept their cool.