Now it’s official. UEFA Europa League is Sevilla’s competition.
Sevilla lifted its record sixth UEFA Cup/Europa League trophy on Thursday night by beating the favored Inter Milan 3-2 in the Finals game held at RheinEnergieSTADION. This win also meant that the La Liga club remained perfect in the finals of the competition, going six out of six.
Things didn’t start great for Sevilla as Inter’s Romelu Lukaku went down in the penalty box in the 5th minute after a tackle from Diego Carlos. The referee awarded a penalty for Inter, which Lukaku confidently turned into a goal.
However, Inter’s lead didn’t last long. Sevilla equalized thanks to Luuk de Jong in the 12th minute, who scored a header a pinpoint cross by veteran Jesus Navas.
The action got quiet a bit for the next 20 minutes, only for things to get exciting again. This time it was Sevilla who got the lead, with another de Jong’s header finding its way past Samir Handanovic in 33rd minute. Still, they managed to hold the 2-1 result for just three minutes, as Italian club strike back via defender Diego Godin.
The second half saw a much more cautious game, although Inter had the opportunity to get ahead early in the period, but Lukaku couldn’t utilize the one-on-one situation with Sevilla’s goalkeeper. He did, however, found the net in 74th minute.
After a sloppy clearance by Inter’s defense, Carlos tried a bicycle kick in the opponents’ 16-yard box. The ball wasn’t on target and was headed to sidelines, but Lukaku stepped in, tried to kick it away, and ended up putting it in his own net.
Inter pushed for the equalizer and had several good chances, but unfortunately for their fans, they couldn’t turn them into goals. With the loss, Seria A side extended their trophy drought to 10 years. The last trophy they won was Copa Italia during the 2010/11 season.
