Sevilla, seven-time Europa League champions after beating Roma on penalties

There could only be one. Neither does he Sevilla and José Mourinho they tasted the bitter taste of defeat in the European final and therefore one of the two was doomed to do it for the first time in Budapest. After a painstaking 120-minute fight, the penalty shootout smiled on the one who always finds a happy ending in the European League.

As Sevilla’s passionate fans recalled in their cheers before the final, the Europa League is Sevilla’s empire, not the Roman Empire, no matter how much the Giallorosso wore a Latin inscription on their jersey SPQR in honor of the glorious past of the Eternal City. The seventh arrived in agony, after almost two and a half hours of football and fighting. The always dramatic resolution from eleven meters was a triumph of normality, that rare virtue which Jose Luis Mendilibar turned a team that was close to being relegated to second place into a champion.

As planned in the evening program, Roma decided to retreat and a strong passing game against Sevilla’s attempts to threaten from ball possession and positional play. The Spanish team lacked the depth and clarity of the starting ideas, those characteristics that are intended to be provided Bryan Gil and Oliver Torres.

While, Mourinho’s Roma, solid as a rock to avoid his rival’s advance, he found too easily Dybala, an absolutely different player. The Argentinian faked a deflected shot, the first of the duel, and then took out a magic lamp and found Sevilla in the box steelwhose center was wasted by Spinazzola when he finished the cross for Bono with his right foot, his sick leg.

In an even fight, the Italian team offered better feelings, with a controlled duel and sharper through their dangerous arreons. The Transalpine team does not need to produce much in attack and that is a very tough nut to crack. A flawless tactical approach, with Smalling as the antidote in-Nesyri for every missed ball. The Moroccan striker, a specialist in receiving with his back to the goal and opening up space for every teammate, was maximally controlled by the English central defender, Mourinho’s praetorian par excellence.

The scenario seemed good for Roma, but it became idyllic in a seemingly innocuous fight in the center of the field which Cristante beat Rakitić. The Croatian protested the foul just before Mancini made a perfect pass for Dybala, who did the rest in true Dybala style: excellent control and no less good definition with that left foot that touched the stick.

Sevilla, sticking to that never-give-up motto, reacted honorably and threatened to equalize with Fernando’s high header. Although none of the numerous lateral crosses performed by Mendilibar’s team could surpass those huge Romanistic defensive towers, Rakitić came very close to finding the key with a left-footed shot from the edge of the area that crashed into the woods.

Despite a good end to the first half for Sevilla, Mendilibar shuffled his cards on the table with Lamela and Suso looking for all the verticality he lacked through Bryan Gil and Óliver Torres. This had an effect as the Nervión team was more aggressive after the break. He guessed and hit according to a scenario very similar to the one that Roma already experienced in the semi-final against Bayer Leverkusen. Equipped in their area, the ‘giallorosso’ team tried to emulate the praise of the ‘catenaccia’ they performed in Germany and they entrusted their victory to a high defensive exercise.

Montiel, a hero again

As in Leverkusen He barely had the ball, barely stretched out of his domain, but this time his resistance didn’t last long and he faded in one of those right-wing runs that Jesús Navas has been a signature of all his life. The little devil from Los Palacios poisoned her and Mancini shot himself in the foot under pressure from En-Nesyri.

Roma then lost the instruction book. He needed the whole world to improvise and adapt his game to the new situation. The king of the Europa League smelled blood and acted as the second in the second half. The final was now on their field, but Mourinho’s men put on their armor and weathered the downpour.

The Portuguese swapped Dybala’s class for Wijnaldum’s cement, and Abraham had it against Bono, before the subsequent uproar in Spanish territory petered out without consequence. Roma did not have their last word, now with Belotti as assistant in place of the injured Abraham. The Italian striker managed to break Sevilla’s illusion when extra time was already looming, but Bono denied the rival glory once again after a practiced game.

With Sevilla more physically fit, the final went to extra time after another good chance headed by En-Nesyri and a slightly deflected shot by Fernando. Montiel and Rekik as fresh wings and huge doses of physical effort, so much so that it began to take its toll on both teams. In Sevilla, there were no fresh legs or clear ideas, and in Roma there was no desire to prevent the battle from being decided by the capricious luck of penalties. Montiel, the hero of Argentina at the World Cup, also sealed the epilogue of the Europa League from the penalty spot. La Séptima del Sevilla will forever bear the stamp of Mendilibar.

MATCH SHEET

Seville: Bono, Navas (Montiel, min. 94), Badé, Gudelj (Marcao, min. 127), Telles (Rekik, min. 94), Fernando (Jordán, min. 129), Rakitić, Ocampos, Óliver Torres (Suso, min. . 46), Bryan Gil (Lamela, min. 46) and En-Nesyri.

Rome: Rui Patricio, Mancini, Smalling, Ibáñez, Çelik (Zalewski, min. 91), Cristante, Matić (Bove, min. 120), Spinazzola (Diego Llorente, min. 106), Pellegrini (El Shaarawy, min. 106), Dybala (Wijnaldum, min. 68) and Abraham (Belotti, min. 75).

Goals: 0-1: minute 35, Dybala. 1-1: minute 55, Mancini, in his own.

Penalties: 1-0: Ocampos. 1-1: Christian. 2-1: Lick. 2-1: Mancini, for Bono. 3-1: Rakitić. 3-1: Ibáñez, for Bono. 4-1: Montiel.

Referee: Anthony Taylor (England). He warned Matic, Rafa Mir, Pellegrini, Mancini, Cristante, Rakitić, Celik, Zalewski, Lamela, Joan Jordán, Mourinho, Montiel, Ocampos and Karsdorp.

Incidents: The Europa League final was played in the Puskas Arena in Budapest.