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No matter that he changed three coaches during the season, no matter that he does not have world-class footballers. The Sevilla team is a "legend" of the UEFA Europa League. On the evening of Wednesday, May 31, at the "Puskas Arena" stadium in Budapest, she performed her ... miracle again. Despite losing in the final of the second European competition (Europa League) to Roma, the Andalusian team was the one that celebrated in the penalty shootout with 4-1 (1-1 regular time and overtime) and for the 7th time in Her history won the prestigious trophy.
The absolute protagonist of the Spaniards was the Moroccan goalkeeper Bono, who saved the executions of Mancini and Ibanez. With the captain of the Italians (Mancini) developing into a "fatal footballer" for his team, as he was the one who scored the own goal to equalize the Spaniards in the 55th minute.
The Andalusians managed to write 7X7 in 2023 (successes were preceded in the years 2006, 2007, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2020), and not allow Mourinho's Roma to put an end to their omnipotence.
At the same time, Mendilibar team secured their entry into the UEFA Champions League groups of the 2023/2024 season, as well as the "ticket" for the European Super Cup match, which is scheduled to take place on August 16 at the "G. Karaiskakis" (the opponent will be the winner of the Champions League final, between Manchester City and Inter (10/06).
One of the best coaches in history, Jose Mourinho, led Roma to a second consecutive European final, but this time he did not celebrate, like in 2022 in Tirana, when the "Romans" had won the Europa Conference League trophy.
In his 6th European competition final, the Portuguese coach, Jose Mourinho, was defeated. After the Champions League and the UEFA Cup he had won with Porto, the Champions League with Inter Milan and the Europa League with Manchester United, the Conference League came last year, but in Budapest he saw Roma lose on penalties.
In the 35th minute, Roma took the lead with a perfect pass from Paulo Dybala. Despite not being good offensively in the first half, Sevilla had a great chance to equalize in first-half stoppage time, but Rakitic's shot found Patricio's left-hand post.
The second half was a completely different match. Sevilla came in determined to equalize and taking advantage of the retreat of the "Romans", managed to do so in the 55th minute, albeit with a large dose of luck.
From Navas' turn in the small area, the ball found Mancini and ended up in Patricio's net, "writing" in this way the 1-1 and giving even more interest to the final.
Both teams, obviously tired from the extra effort, did not risk the extra half hour, so for the third consecutive year in the tournament (Villarreal-Manchester United in 2021 and Eintracht Frankfurt-Rangers in 2022), everything was decided in the "Russian roulette" of penalties.
THE PENALTY PROCEDURE
Ocampos 1-0
Cristante 1-1
Lamella 2-1
Mancini Saves Bono
Rakitic 3-1
Ibanez Rejection Bono and beam
Montiel 4-1
JOSÉ LUIS MENDILIBAR:
Overjoyed for winning the Europa League, Sevilla's coach, Jose Luis Mendilibar, appeared shortly after the final. "I'm going to enjoy it, because at the moment I don't know if I'm going to renew and I don't care," the experienced technician said meaningfully and added: "We came for what we came for and I think the job was done well. We didn't play well in the first half, but coming back to score at the start of the second half gave us the strength to try for the win. In the end, they tried to defend well and created problems for us, with two or three set pieces."
JOSÉ MOURINHO:
Despite his bitterness, for losing the Europa League, Jose Mourinho assured that he wants to stay in Roma, putting at least... temporarily to the rumor that he wants to wait for a proposal of cooperation from Paris Saint-Germain. Shortly after the lost final by Seville, the Portuguese coach emphasized:
"I want to stay, but my players deserve more, I deserve more. I don't want to fight about it anymore. I'm tired of being a coach, communicator, representative of the club. I want to stay, but in better conditions so that I can give my best."
Manos Staramopoulos
Journalist and Analyst of International Football and Affairs
Chief Editor English Zone of Discoveryfootball.com
Athens (Greece)