Sevilla thwart Juve after extra time and join Roma in the final

2023-05-19 00:00:21

Sevilla return to the Europa League final. MARCELO DEL POZO / REUTERS

Sevilla FC won 2-1 against Juventus Turin after extra time.

Hello, here we are again. Already winner of the Europa League six times, including a last coronation in 2020, Sevilla will play yet another final in “its” competition. The Andalusians pushed the Turinese out of their way. Victory 2-1 in the second leg, after a draw (1-1) in the semi-final first leg. The defeat of the Piedmontese therefore does not benefit France, since its final victory would have allowed the 3rd in Ligue 1 to be directly qualified for the group stage of the Champions League.

Abused for many months, on the verge of relegation to La Liga and in turmoil after the dismissal of Jorge Sampaoli, Sevilla FC is at the rendezvous in the Europa League. Because they were simply superior to a still cold Juve, they won their ticket to try to win a 7th Europa League on May 31 against AS Roma.

Intensity of great evenings

Already above in intensity in the first leg, the Sevillians put their foot on the accelerator from the start of the meeting, and Juve was asphyxiated for a quarter of an hour. The first situation was however in favor of the Bianconeri, with a powerful header from Getti (15th), strangely alone at six meters, well captured by Bounou.

Probably a little booster shot for the locals, because Szcsesny then started a phenomenal performance to allow his people to stay in the game: a header from Ocampos (24th), a heavy strike from Acuna (30th), another strike of Ocampos (36th). The Bianconeri chained the counterattacks and did it very well: Di Maria would have given his side the advantage with more altruism for Kean (27th), the latter smashed the post of a decisive Bounou (33rd), Rabiot believed to score but Locatelli was well offside (42nd).

Dark evening for Chiesa

The second act was just as suffocating, worthy of the great European posters for its intensity. After a few chills on Szcsesny’s goal, it was Vlahovic who took advantage of an error from Badé to open the scoring (65th). Suso answered him with a clear shot a few moments later (71st), and the Old Lady’s Polish goalkeeper multiplied on a new shot from Suso (83rd), on a cross shot from Gil (89th) and a Sublime header from En-Nesyri deflected for a corner (89th).

Already at fault on the opposing goal with a loss of ball not far from its surface, Chiesa failed to put his team in front (95th). The sanction was immediate: launched, Lamela propelled the ball with his head into the small net of Szcsesny (97th). The red card from Acuna (112th) was anecdotal until the final whistle, and the release of Sanchez-Pizjuan.

Sevilla again face an Italian club

Jostled by a catastrophic first part of the season in the league and in the Champions League, mistreated off the field, the Piedmontese will have to focus on Series A to try to be in C1 next year.

The last step to win a 7th victory in the Europa League is now known for the men of José Luis Mendilibar: it will go through AS Roma on May 31 at the Ferenc-Puskás Arena in Budapest, which has put Bayer Leverkusen to sleep ( 1-0, 0-0).