Sevilla players celebrating their seventh Europa League, on May 31, 2023. Photo: Taken from El Español.

Sevilla doesn't play Europa League finals, they win them. Many things have been said about the connection of the Andalusian team with this competition, many adjectives have been put, hundreds of stories have been written, but everything that is related still falls short.

To beat Nervión in a Europa League final, you have to burn all the ships and resort to all possible tricks. That is what José Mourinho's Roma tried, pulling the "mourinhismo" in its maximum splendor, but not for those. The Italians forced until the penalty shootout, but there they were not able to beat the Spaniards either.

Mendilibar closed the circle and worked the miracle. The Basque coach put the icing on a season that was on the way to collapse, with Sevilla buying tickets to go to the second division, and a few weeks after taking the reins of the team gave him his seventh torch of the Europa League. A victory with a special dedication for Sergio Rico.

No football

With Jose Mourinho's team in between, it is difficult to expect a game with a great show. If you add to that that the Sevilla of Mendilibar does not stop being a squad under construction and that in a final, where there is so much at stake, nerves grip anyone, the mixture seems clear.

It usually happens that in these cases the emotion of having a title in dispute is enough to alleviate the lack of show, although in this final it cost even that. The intensity, the claw and the dispute were imposed in each play, and there normally Mourinho's teams usually come out winners.

The crash sailed during the first minutes in a kind of bubble in which hardly any arrivals were seen in the areas. Only a shot by Spinazzola from inside the area was guessed after the center from the right wing of Celik, although Bono saved with a great intervention when the most logical thing was that half of the stadium was already singing the goal of Roma.

With the passing of the minutes, Sevilla was recovering ground little by little although without making great boasts. It was not a night for it, far from it, at least in this first half. Tammy Abraham asked for a penalty for a Gudelj clearance in which she raised her leg too high, although the referee did not fall into the trap after reviewing the action even in the VAR.

Football-wise, it was not being an exciting match or offering too many things, but in this sea of troubled waters caught the one who is most accustomed to doing it in them. Roma took advantage of a large and inexplicable gap between Badé and Navas for Pellegrini to leak a great pass looking for Dybala.

The Argentine received, stood hand to hand with Bono and defined perfectly to make the first against the Moroccan goalkeeper. After all, for this Paulo signed in the summer for Roma, to be differential.

Sevilla struggled to react, but they did so in the final stretch of the first half. He had thrown away 40 minutes inexplicably and began to stretch with a shot from Fernando in the small area that went over. The most dangerous was put by Rakitic, who crashed into the post a shot from the front of the area with which he was about to equalize.

Sevilla appears

Absolutely nothing had to do with the first part with the second. The passage through the changing rooms changed the face and ambition completely to Sevilla. On the way out, Roma took a step back and that was taken advantage of by those of Mendilibar to live in the middle of the Italian countryside. The area of Mourinho's team was stepped on more than ever, as if it were an announcement of what was to come.

Telles, very incisive on the left wing and vindicating himself in the absence of Acuña, had the equalizer in his boots, although his shot went over the crossbar. But it wasn't going to be much longer before the Spaniards' draw in Hungary arrived.

As if it were a gesture of fate, someone as emblematic as Navas had to appear in the video of the goal. The eternal right back put a center from the sidelines, Ocampos failed to finish with a header but the ball fell unexpectedly at the feet of Mancini. Unintentionally, the Roman center back put the ball in his own goal to equalize the match.

Roma did not take long to react to this goal of the Spaniards, because 10 minutes later they enjoyed a triple opportunity to regain the advantage. After a free kick, a tremendous noise was mounted inside the area and there came the shots first of Abraham, then of Mancini and finally of Roger. Those of Nervión solved the ballot and surely still do not know how.

There was another very tough battle going on in the band. The two benches maintained an open war that resulted in constant discussions, defiant looks and several reprimands at different times by the referee. Here Mou is the master of the situation.

Hearts soared when the referee signalled a penalty in Sevilla's favour in the 75th minute. Ocampos went deep into the area and went down after a tackle by Roger, but the VAR replay made it clear that the Roma centre-back had taken the ball cleanly, so the maximum penalty went to limbo. The Italians also asked for a penalty in the opposite area for a hand of Fernando that the referee did not decree.

Sevilla had a final rush and came close to the winning goal in the 95th minute. It would have been epic, as magical as its connection to the Europa League, but the game went to extra time.

The extra time

After 90 minutes, neither team was able to unbalance the balance, so at least extra time was needed. As if there wasn't enough, another half hour of tip play to try to determine who was the champion of the Europa League this season 2022-2023.

It could have been so, but not even half of those 30 minutes were played. Players on the ground, fake injuries, substitutions, constant interruptions, clashes between the benches... And almost all of it from the Roman side. Everything but football, except for a shot to the crossbar by Smalling in the 131.

So only one thing could happen, that everything was decided on penalties. There Sevilla started on the right foot and Bono stopped Mancini's second shot. Roger Ibáñez ran into the stick and Montiel, after repeating his shot, certified the victory for Nervión.

(Taken from El Español)