COLOGNE, Germany (AP) – The longest season in the Europa League was an impressive shot by a defender and a striker who tried to keep him out.
Instead of blocking the kick over the head of Diego Carlos, who was deflected, Romelu Lukaku diverted it to his own net. That gave Sevilla a 3-2 victory in the final on Friday and a sixth-record Europa League title.
And that gave Lukaku the score difference for both teams.
The Belgian striker had given Inter a better start with an early purpose after winning his first duel with Diego Carlos, who may have been ejected smoothly in the process. The Brazilian defender was the last defender when he committed a foul on Lukaku in a 3rd minute counterattack, but only won a yellow card.
Lukaku scored the kick, but Sevilla entered the game with Luuk de Jong’s two heads, setting the bar for Diego Carlos to kick his winning shot in the 74th minute.
“If you win the penalty and it’s a red card, if it was actually red, the game would have been much less difficult,” Inter coach Antonio Conte said through a translator. “The referee still made a resolution. So he read that resolution and there is also the VAR, but we know that the VAR is used in all countries.”
Conte has also hinted that he could leave Inter after his first season as a coach at the final moment of Serie A and Europa League. The defeat extended Inter’s expectations for a first European trophy since Jose Mourinho led the Italian club to the Champions League in 2010.
Sevilla has won the Europa League in 4 of the last seven seasons.
“This organization deserves it. We fought all season and got over what we found,” said the right-back of Sevilla Jesús Navas, who won his third Europa League with Sevilla, 14 years after the first.
The game began at a frantic speed as it was game 54 of 2019-20 for any of the groups in an extended season due to the coronavirus pandemic.
After just 3 minutes, Lukaku pounced on the ball when a Seville strike was cleared and Diego Carlos pushed him to the ground while he was ready to fire. Goalkeeper Yassine Bounou had played a key role in Seville’s career until the end, but he may do nothing to avoid Lukaku’s hard penalty in the left back corner.
The lead lasted seven minutes before Luuk de Jong tied with a heads-back of right-back Jesus Navas.
De Jong was rewarded with a start after scoring the claim to victory as a replacement against Manchester United in the semi-finals. The Dutch striker gave Sevilla a 2-1 lead at 33 with a header at the time after a loose shot, but three minutes later Inter scored almost identically, Diego Godín headed almost the same position with a loose shot from Marcelo Brozovic.
De Jong ahead with Sevilla 2-1 with a far-shot header at 33, but Inter Diego Godin’s defender responded with his own header three minutes later. Lukaku may have put Inter back in front at 65 when he broke Seville’s defense, but Bounou charged to block his shot.
After Sevilla regained the lead, Jules Koundé stopped matching the inter once when he cleared his replacement Alexis Sanchez’s shot out of the line at 82.
Sevilla coach Julen Lopetegui said he was very happy to win a trophy with Sevilla in his first task since he spent only 3 months at the helm of Real Madrid in 2018. He had lost his job as coach of Spain on the eve of the Next World Cup his resolve to take real.
“It was a very emotional match, but in the part at the moment we controlled the game a little better, which we dug,” Lopetegui said through a translator, paying a special prize to Diego Carlos. He took the penalty and then scored that glorious shot. Array”
In one season explained through the coronavirus pandemic, Sevilla ended with a player in the area whose own season was interrupted by a positive check by COVID-19.
Serbian midfielder Nemanja Gudelj arrived in arrears at the “bubble” of the Europa League tournament in Germany after a period of solitary confinement after his positive check-up last month. He reported no symptoms.
He greeted teammates with hugs last week and a replacement for the semi-final win over Manchester United before replacing Diego Carlos in the 86th minute of the final.
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