Curry Carrillo |
Seville (EFE) 5 minutes into extra time and, after another magical night at the Ramón Sánchez-Pizjuán Stadium, he thus enlarges his story by accessing the final in Budapest in which he will fight for the seventh title in his fetish tournament.
Lamela completed the comeback in extra time, after Juventus took the lead in minute 65 through Serbian Dusan Vlahovic and then Suso Fernández equalized in minute 71 with a great goal, allowing José Luis Mendilibar’s Sevilla, the architect of that his squad has recovered his football and his confidence, prolong his mystique with a competition in which he is the king with six titles, this time against José Mourinho’s Roma.
It was the decisive duel to be in the final of Budapest, the most important game so far of the course for two champions of the UEFA Cup / Europa League. The Spanish, kings of the tournament with six titles, the last in Cologne in 2020 after beating Inter Milan; and the ‘Vecchia Signora’, a colossus, historic and highly laureated club, with the wins in 1977, 1990 and 1993, in addition to others conquered later such as the ‘Champions’ of 1996.
Thus, both teams came out with everything to a packed Sánchez-Pizjuán, stained red by a Sevilla team devoted to his team, after a terrible campaign in the League where he even flirted with relegation, and with 1,500 Juventinos in the stands.
The local coach, José Luis Mendilibar, the architect of the resurrection of Sevilla, recovered the Argentine Lucas Ocampos, having overcome the muscular problem for which he was changed in Turin, and repeated the eleven of the first leg, which ended with a very bittersweet 1-1 for the people of Seville, as the goal for the ‘bianconeri’ came after added time passed with a header from Federico Gatti, today a starter behind three central defenders just like the Brazilian Bremer, already recovered from his injury.
Faced with Sevilla’s already known losses due to the injury of the Frenchman Nianzou, the Brazilian Marcao and Joan Jordán, plus those of the Mexican Tecatito Corona and the Senegalese Pape Gueye, who were not registered for the tournament, ‘Juve’ reached the ‘cauldron’ at bright red at the Nervión stadium without French midfielder Pogba and Italian central defender Bonucci, also due to physical problems.
Allegri revolutionized his eleven with five novelties compared to the first leg, with the entry of three from Gatti and Bremer, by Bonucci and the Brazilian Alex Sandro; and two youngsters, the midfielder Fagioli and the English winger Iling-Junior, by Miretti and the Serbian Kostic; in addition to striker Moise Kean by another Serbian and almost indisputable starter, Dusan Vlahovic.
The clash began with great intensity, with Sevilla extremely concentrated and focused on the ‘bianconera’ area. The Spanish team pressed high up and stole a lot of balls, which was a nightmare for ‘Juve’ until they woke up after half an hour of play with dangerous counters, quick attacks and clear chances, as did the Andalusians.
After a notice from Gatti in his specialty from set pieces, a header after a corner that was saved, providentially, by Bono and then by Di María in a subtle shot that went wide, the Sevilla players, who went all out, accumulated good chances of goal by Ocampos, with a header on the plate that Wojciech Szczesny saved on the same line in minute 24, and a shot by Acuña, another Argentine, who the Polish goalkeeper cleared with his mitt.
Sevilla, electric and with a lot of rhythm, had more control and looked for the goal on a high volley from Rakitic, after a pass from a great Óliver Torres, who strung together plays and contributed a lot in attack. But ‘Juve’ was not intimidated, the young Moise Kean sent a cross shot to the strain of a post at 33, despite the fact that Óliver and Ocampos also replied without success.
The final stretch of the first half, with the Argentine Leandro Paredes on the field after replacing the injured Fagioli, was moved. First, a goal against Rabiot was annulled in minute 42, due to a previous offside by his assistant, Locatelli, which was confirmed by VAR, and then due to a possible penalty by Danilo on Óliver Torres at the time that was also checked, although minutes later the initial decision of the arbitrator that there was nothing punishable was endorsed.
At the restart, the game was more of a round trip, with many alternatives and with chances for both sides, from Acuñá, Badé in a single fault or a hyperactive Bryan Gil for the Spanish team that Szczesny handled well, always very confident and sober; and twice from Rabiot, plus a header from Bremer for Juventus that miraculously went wide.
The score changed after a local defensive failure, with a bad dribble that Frenchman Badé ‘ate’ and took advantage of Vlahovic, who had just left the field with Chiesa for Di María and Kean, to make it 0-1 in minute 65 to a very dangerous Juventus against them. But Sevilla never lost faith and Suso, who had come on at 62 for Óliver, equalized eight minutes later with a left-footed goal from the edge of the area.
From there until 90 minutes, Allegri refreshed his team with Kostic and Miretti for Iling-Junior and Locatelli, but it was Sevilla who came closest to the goal after a direct free kick by Suso or a header from En-Nesyri against whom they Szczesny shined.
This wind in favor of a great Sevilla, ambitious and persistent in their arrivals with gritty and intense football, continued into extra time. Although Chiesa was about to take advantage of a mistake from behind that Bono corrected with a two-half save, it was the Argentinian Lamela -he came out in minute 70 for Ocampos- who multiplied Nervión’s euphoria by scoring 2-1 with an accurate header in the fifth minute of extra time after an exceptional cross from an excellent Bryan Gil.
With more changes due to the enormous physical wear on both teams, when the Argentines Montiel and Papu Gómez entered for two Sevilla youth players who gave their all, Bryan Gil and Navas, and at ‘Juve’ the Polish striker Milik for Cuadrado, the Italians attacked desperately in the second part of extra time, but Kostic did not hit the mark with a left foot, neither did Chiesa or Paredes against a Sevilla team that they defended tooth and nail to reach the seventh final of their fetish tournament.
Entry 2-1. Sevilla reaches the Europa League final and enlarges its story was first published in EFE Noticias.
