A single goal from Tammy Abraham (11th) was enough for Roma specialist José Mourinho to win at the expense of Leicester (1-0) the ticket for the final in Tirana, after the draw (1-1) in England.

A goal is also what OM needed at least to win extra time after the cruel defeat in the first leg to the Netherlands (2-3).

Because if it obviously does not have the prestige of the C1, won by OM in 1993, the last born of the European cups was a real end-of-season objective for Marseille to try to dust off a record that has been frozen for ten years.

But the team of Jorge Sampaoli, black armband in memory of the 30th anniversary of the Furiani disaster, pushed in vain, quickly penalized by the injury in the first period of Dimitri Payet.

The Marseille leader had the two best chances at the start of the match before going out half an hour into the game, hit in the right leg, to the cheers of the Vélodrome.

Neither Bamba Dieng, little in sight, nor Arkadiusz Milik, who entered in place of Payet, nor Cengiz Ünder, launched at the end of the match, found the fault against a team that seemed within reach of the Phocaeans.

Pure Mourinho style

Feyenoord, who only sent shivers down Steve Mandanda's spine at the end of the first half, will therefore have the right to a 19th European match, to conclude this C4 campaign which began in July with the preliminary rounds .

With the opportunity of a fourth European title, after those in C1 (1970) and the two C3 (1974 and 2002).

The Dutch will however have to beat a specialist in European competitions for this: José Mourinho, already winner of two Champions Leagues (2004, 2010) and two Europa Leagues (2003, 2017).

The Roma of "Mou" relied on an Olimpico on fire to quickly open the scoring with a header from a corner by Tammy Abraham (11th).

Ninth European goal and 25th of the season for the Englishman, perhaps motivated by the Italian press who recalled in the morning that he had never scored against Leicester when he was playing across the Channel.

As in the first leg, after having quickly scored, the Louve lowered little by little, leaving more and more the initiative to Leicester, who gradually recovered from the first quarter of an hour in apnea in the fury of more than 60,000 tifosi.

In front of this Roma in pure Mourinho style, compact and waiting for the rare opportunities to counter, Leicester was especially dangerous after the break.

The Olimpico held his breath several times, still finding his voice to applaud Claudio Ranieri for a long time, given a standing ovation by the English and Roman supporters in a beautiful communion.

And the Roman defense did not flinch on the final assaults of Leicester, offering the Wolf to finish in style the first season on the banks of the Tiber of Mourinho.

© 2022 AFP