Sevilla makes Europa League final, aims for seventh title

The Kings of the Europa League have stayed true to their names again as they made yet another final and aim for their seventh title after beating Juventus after extra time in the semi-final second leg to book a date with Roma.

Sevilla played a 1-1 draw away in Turin in the first leg and entered the second leg at the Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan Stadium with everything balanced and the game for either side’s taking. This remained the same till halftime, with both sides goalless.

Unlike in the first leg, Sevilla fell behind this time in the 65th when Dusan Vlahovic gave the Italians the lead; it would have been an all-Italian final if they had kept the lead for another 25 minutes.

However, the lead only lasted six minutes as Suso got the equalizer for the home side, while Erik Lamela got the winning goal in the first half of extra time.

Sevilla will now face Roma for a seventh Europa League trophy and the first since 2020 at Puskas Arena in Budapest in the final of the competition on the 31st of May.

Roma, on the other hand, made their second consecutive European final after winning last season’s inaugural UEFA Europa Conference League when they beat Feyernoord.

Led by Jose Mourinho, Roma are in another final again and close to winning another European title after seeing past Bayer Leverkusen 1-0 on aggregate. Thursday’s second leg between the Germans and Roma in Germany was a frustrating night for the host, who failed to get a goal past Roma despite their much stronger attacking performance on the night.

Roma survived the onslaught and will hope to secure the title, which will see them qualify for next season’s UEFA Champions League. In the UEFA Europa Conference League, it will be West Ham against Fiorentina in Prague after seeing off AZ and Basel, respectively.

Daniel Ademiju Idowu