• Direct This is how we live it

Wanting can end, but love knows no end. Sevilla does not want the Europa League like anyone else, it is that it has established with it a love that overcomes all barriers. It is not an idyll, or even a love that is rediscovered every so often. It is a continuous, consolidated relationship that does not stop growing. The conquest was initiated by Juande, it seemed an eternal idyll with Emery and Lopetegui maintained the flame that now Mendilibar whipped. Like the loves that endure. Sevilla reigns in the Europa League, again because he loves it without limits even if he is clinging to penalties and Bono.

It was not easy to achieve this despite being warned. Mendilibar wanted to see at the Puskas Arena the team that did not fear United or Juve, but knew that he would have to take hits, physical and mental. Such are the legions that Mourinho arms, a merciless strategist who does not give up any weapon, even if that means forgetting about the game and tangling it. Sevilla did not have to spin plays, or find the edges where to draw centers or see En-Nesyri appear. Ocampos had to disappear and Bryan Gil did not even progress. If that meant warfighting, the Romans, encouraged by a hot stand, know how to do it. The first step was to despair Sevilla and the truth is that it did not cost them too much. Already in the eleven there was a warning. Mou played the cluelessness with the 20 or 30 minutes that Paulo Dybala could play, which became a decisive start.

He appeared in ten minutes to tickle Telles, assist Çelik and get Bounou to lunt before a shot from Spinazzola. First warning. The second ended up inside the goal. In a counter that was born from a robbery of Cristante to Rakitic, the Argentine unleashed madness.

Sevilla had to be recomposed from the setback because the Roman wall was going to rise a few meters more. Against a rival who broke the rhythm with fouls, protests and various marrullerías. Once again Sevilla had to remember to be patient, as in other finals they knew how to do. The centers appeared, but they did not win the aerial duels. Only Fernando managed it and his shot was lost over the crossbar. It was Sevilla's first shot on target in 43 minutes. He was then sparkling and in the seven added, with Roma already lying down at half-time, a Rakitic shot from the front spat it at the base of the post.

Now it was Sevilla who warned and Mendilibar got more vertigo. Lamela and Suso had to tell the Italians that the cup did not yet have an owner. It was not necessary, because Navas took a center so perfect that Mancini could not save it and put it to Rui Patricio in the goal. If Roma had felt superior, from that minute 55 it was not. Football appeared in the final and Sevilla tied it up. Suso slipped away to the populated center of Roman marrow and the ball began to appear on the banks and pass through the boots of Ocampos. Even so, Roma were still looking to penalize Sevilla mistakes. Mendilibar's men found their way to the area, but their shots were timid. That gave life to Rome.

An agonizing final stretch

Luck allied again with Bounou in a foul that grazed Abraham but ended up under the body of the Moroccan goal. There was no longer a scare that decentered Sevilla, who even had a penalty to Ocampos that the VAR annulled. Mou needed a lung. Dybala was sent to the bench and looked for the strength of Wijnaldum and the speed of Belotti. It was difficult for him to appear, but he did it in a mischievous quick free kick. He impaled him at point-blank range but did not count on Bounou's fingers holding Sevilla in the final. He was even able to take it with time served in a center of Suso on the right wing that En-Nesyri, with a cold neck, headed high. It was the first clear that the Moroccan had but it was not the last sevillista in regulation time because Fernando lost the opportunity to avoid extra time.

Then the fear appeared, the responsibility and the minutes weighed on the legs although the coaches shook their eleven with the refreshment of the bench. Navas didn't like leaving the pitch, Spinazzola and Pellegrini didn't either. They knew what it meant as the stands were activated for the final push. But the ball ran little. Some fouls, heart attack corner for Roma, an interception of Montiel who did not dare to shoot the second post and a last shot of Roma. The 11 meters were going to decide, as in 2007 against Benfica, as in 2014 against Espanyol. Bono was giant against Mancini and Ibañez and gave Sevilla their seventh Europa League. Montiel, as in the World Cup in Argentina, scored the decisive one.

  • Sevilla FC

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

Learn more