COLOGNE – Sevilla secured their sixth Europa League title with a 3–2 win over Inter Milan after a kick over defence Diego Carlos deflected through Italian team scorer Romelu Lukaku settled a thrilling game on Friday.
In the first European final in history, it was an astonishing anticlimax for Lukaku after scoring a player’s longest score in UEFA/Europa League Cup history by scoring the eleventh consecutive match.
On the other hand, it ended as a definitive dream for Diego Carlos of Seville, who may have been sent off without problems after committing a foul on Lukaku to give the penalty that the Belgian striker converted.
Lukaku also matched former Brazilian laned Ronaldo’s 34 goals club record for Inter in one season in all competitions, however, it was unstopily as Sevilla won a sixth name of the Europa League in just 14 years.
While his teammates compensated for the lack of noise at the Cologne stadium – enthusiasts’ break for the COVID-19 pandemic – with ecstatic celebrations, the watery captain of Seville, Jesús Navas, said: “This team deserves it.”
“We fight all year round, we live in the situation that, like all of us, we try every day. Fans deserve it, those who love football like us and have to enjoy it,” he added at Sky Sports.
The latter came in a quick start when Inter almost fell off moments before taking the lead when Fernando had his shot purposely blocked through Roberto Gagliardini.
Inter’s flash counter ended with Carlos knocking down the uncontainable Lukaku before the striker directed his kick to goalkeeper Yassine Bono.
Dutchman Luuk de Jong, who came from the bench to score Seville’s goal in the 2–1 semi-final over Manchester United, again showed his predatory intuition with a pair of very good heads who reversed the trend.
The former Newcastle United forwarder tied in the 12th minute after a centre from The right of Navas, and then beat Inter goalkeeper Samir Handanovic at 33 with a header after Ever Banega floated in a loose shot.
However, Seville’s joy was short-lived, as she was also overturned with a good kick that stopped 3 minutes later, Croatian midfielder Marcelo Brozovic gave Diego Godin a loose kick to get the house in from close range.
A heartbreaking first part ended with Lucas Ocampos cutting the bar with a headbutt as both sides rushed to relentless end-to-end action.
The speed dropped after the break before Lukaku gave up a big chance in the 65th minute, as he could receive a docile shot from Bono after escaping Diego Carlos from the middle line.
Lukaku aggravated his nightmare part of the moment in the 74th minute when Carlos unleashed a speculative kick after Inter failed at a transparent stop.
The ball gave the impression of deviating from Handanovic’s left post, but Lukaku instinctively pulled out his foot and found himself on the roof of the net.
Inter missed the possibility of forcing the extra time when Jules Kounde cleared the ball from his line after a fight in the mouth of the goal and Sevilla held in the last few minutes under intense tension on the part of Inter.
It was a happy end to the season for his coach Julen Lopetegui, who won his first trophy as a senior coach after a torrid season that saw him fired in Spain and Real Madrid.
However, Inter’s Handanovic may be only his failure to win a first trophy since 2011.
“We are very disappointed, but we have to move on,” Slovenian Handanovic told UEFA’s official website. “We just hope to play many other games like this in the future. The foundations are there. (Written through Zoran Milosavljevic; edited through Ian Chadband).
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