MY ACCOUNT
Sevilla won their fifth Europa League in ten years as they defeated Roma 4-1 on penalties after a tightly-contested 1-1 draw in normal time.
The winning penalty by Gonzalo Montiel was originally missed but VAR decided there was an encroachment and he scored the next one to earn more European glory for Nervionenses.
Before that, Paulo Dybala’s strike in the 35th minute was cancelled out by a Gianluca Mancini own goal only ten minutes after the restart.
Here are five talking points from a tense final in Budapest.
Sevilla do it again
Sevilla has once again come up trumps to win another Europa League trophy.
The Spanish side have now won seven — an incredible record which means they have won four more than the next best side in Inter Milan (three).
A disappointing season in LaLiga means little now as they will be in the Champions League next season.
Mourinho run ends
Jose Mourinho’s magical run in European finals has come to an end.
The Portuguese manager had won every single final before tonight and he ran Sevilla all the way to penalties — but lost after Gianluca Mancini and Roger Ibanez missed their spot-kicks.
The Italian side now have to play Spezia at the weekend with Europa League qualification in their hands, but they could still slip into the Europa Conference League.
Second-half Sevilla
Sevilla didn’t manage to lay a glove on the Roma backline in the first-half but after the restart they looked like a different team.
In order to give his team more attacking thrust, Jose Luis Mendilibar decided to take off Bryan Gil and Oliver Torres — who were mostly ineffective — and bring on Suso and Erik Lamela.
The duo gave the side a lot more threat on the ball, receiving the ball in central and wide positions to create overloads.
The Spanish side overall, however, upped the tempo decisively and grabbed a vital equaliser which turned the final into a different game.
Dybala difference
The signing of Dybala was viewed as a coup and the Argentine’s goal in the first-half proved why.
After an evenly-balanced first 30 minutes, Roma won the ball back in the middle of the park and put Dybala through one-on-one with the goalkeeper — the 29-year-old took one touch before slotting the ball away well.
It was a rare moment of calm in what was a final full of chaos.
However, due to recent injury problems, he had to come off in the 68th minute.
Fiery battle
As expected, the game was an extremely fiery affair.
Roma received six yellow cards during the match, which is the most ever in a final of this competition since it was rebranded in 2009.
Rather summing up the spectacle, there were twice as many fouls (15) as there were shots (7) in the first-half.
Mourinho was typically a menace on the sidelines, constantly shouting at the fourth official and referee Anthony Taylor and picked up a yellow card himself in extra-time.
This was backed up by the Spanish side, who were just as intense — especially when they had a penalty ruled out from VAR in the 75th minute.
