Sevilla and AS Roma reached the UEFA Europa League final after ousting Juventus and Bayer Leverkusen in the semifinal’s second leg.
Sevilla went to the UEFA Europa League final after beating Serie A giants Juventus 2-1 (3-2 on an aggregate) in a dramatic extra time at the Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan Stadium on Thursday in the second leg of the competition’s semifinal.
While Serie A sends one representative in the UEFA Europa League final following AS Roma’s win over Bundesliga side Bayer Leverkusen after the second leg between both sides ended in a goalless draw. Still, Il Lupi won 1-0 on aggregate due to the victory in the first leg.
Jose Mourinho is targeting a back-to-back victory with AS Roma after winning the UEFA Conference League trophy last season.
Sevilla vs Juventus
Both sides attacked each other, but all the goalkeepers displayed excellent saves in the first half.
Sevilla’s Bono and Juventus’ Wojciech Szczesny denied shots and headers from Federico Gatti and Lucas Ocampos, respectively. Szczesny also denied Marcos Acuna’s left-foot attempt. Juventus almost scored their first goal three minutes before the first half ended, but the referee considered Adrien Rabiot’s goal offside. The first half ended 0-0.
Biancoeri scored their first goal from Dusan Vlahovic in the 65th minute. But Sevilla equalized six minutes later from Suso’s outside-the-box shot. The match continued to the extra time after 90 minutes. The home team finally sealed the victory following Erik Lamela’s header from Bryan Gil’s crossing.
Sevilla played with ten men after Marcos Acuna was booked for the second time for wasting time before the throw-in. Juventus failed to equalize, and Los Palanganas succeeded in reaching the UEFA Europa League final.
If Sevilla win the final this season, the trophy will be their seventh. They have won six UEFA Europa League trophies so far, with the last win -was in 2019/2020, beating Inter Milan in the final.
Pragmatic football helps AS Roma to reach UEFA Europa League final
Bayer Leverkusen needed at least a two-goal win to get to the UEFA European League final following the loss in the first leg. Playing at BayArena, Xabi Alonso’s men pressed on the visiting side–managed by Alonso’s former boss at Real Madrid, Jose Mourinho.
Kerem Dermibray threatened the guests in the 7th minute, but AS Roma’s goalie Rui Patricio quickly caught the ball. Bayer Leverkusen intensified their attack in the second half, while AS Roma boosted their defence by playing Georginio Wijnaldum, who substituted Andrea Belotti.
Giallorossi’s solid defence prevented the home team from scoring a single goal. Lorenzo Pellegrini and colleagues went to the final on a 1-0 aggregate. The UEFA Europa League final between AS Roma and Sevilla will take place at Puskas Arena, Budapest, Hungary, on May 31.
This season’s final is Mourinho’s sixth final in European competition. Despite his controversial remarks, the Portuguese manager is one of the world’s most decorated and respected managers in football history. Mourinho helped his country’s club FC Porto win the UEFA Europa League (formerly known as UEFA Cup) in 2002/2003 and UEFA Champions League in 2003/2004.
In 2009.2010, the former Chelsea boss led Inter Milan to clinch the UEFA Champions League title. Then, he moved to Real Madrid. Mourinho brought the UEFA Europa League with Manchester United in the 2016/2017 campaign. Then, he led AS Roma to win the UEFA Conference League–set up by the UEFA with aims to give more opportunities for European clubs to compete in the competition–title last season.
Mourinho will face one of the toughest tests as Sevilla have beaten Italian clubs many times (including today’s match against Juventus).
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