IFFHS CONTINENTAL NEWS - UEFA EUROPA LEAGUE FINAL


Picture : Captain Jesus Navas is the only one who won both the first (2006) and last (2023) of Sevilla’s  7 UEFA Cup/Europa League trophies.


Statistics on Europa League final Sevilla vs Roma 1-1 (penalties 4-1) 

*Sevilla have won all 7 of their finals in European competitions (UEFA Cup 2006, 2007, Europa League 2014, 2015, 2016, 2020, 2023).

*Only 5 clubs have more major European trophies than Sevilla: Real Madrid (16), Barcelona (12), Milan (9), Liverpool (9), Bayern (8).

*Sevilla set the new record for most major European trophies in the XXI century (7). They surpassed Real Madrid, who won the Champions League 6 times.

*Sevilla confirmed the dominance of Spanish clubs in Europa League: 9 of the 14 finals of this tournament (since 2009 when UEFA Cup was rebranded to Europa League) were won by representatives of La Liga. Apart from 5 wins of Sevilla, Atlético Madrid celebrated the victory 3 times (2010, 2012 and 2018) and Villarreal once (2021).

*Spanish teams have won all the last 18 major European finals in which they have faced a non-Spanish opposition. This series started since Real Madrid's win over Bayer Leverkusen in the 2002 Champions League final.

*Sevilla have equaled Liverpool as the only teams to have won 3 European titles in a penalty shootout.
Seville did it in 2007 (vs Espanyol), 2014 (vs Benfica) and now vs Roma. 
Liverpool won shootouts in the 1984 European Cup final vs Roma, in the 2005 Champions League final vs Milan and in 2019 European SuperCup vs Chelsea. 

*For Jose Mourinho, it was 6th final in major European competitions and the first lost. 
He has won all 5 previous: 2 with Porto (UCL and UEFA Cup), 1 with Inter (UCL), 1 with Manchester United (UEFA Cup) and 1 with Roma (Conference League).

*Mourinho has lost 9 out of 11 penalty shootouts in his coaching career in all competitions, nationals and internationals.

*Paulo Dybala (Roma) is the first Argentine to score in a UEFA competition final since Lionel Messi (Barcelona) in the 2010-11 Champions League.

*Dybala is the 5th Argentine player to score in a UEFA Cup/Europa League final (and the first in the last 24 years), after Jorge Valdano (1985 and 1986), Diego Maradona (1989), Javier Zanetti (1998), Hernán Crespo (1999).

*There have only been 2 own goals in major European finals in the last 20 years and both have been for Sevilla: Romelu Lukaku (Inter) in 2020 and Gianluca Mancini (Roma) in 2023.

*Jesús Navas (Sevilla) is the oldest outfield player (37 years 191 days) to start the final of the UEFA Cup/Europa League since David Weir for Rangers in 2008 (38 years 4 days). 

*Navas is just 3rd outfield player aged 37+ with more than 90 minutes played in a major European final, after Toninho Cerezo (Sampdoria) and Pietro Vierchowod (Juventus).

*Eric Lamela (Sevilla) has finally won the first title in his career after his teams lost all 6 his previous finals in different competitions for clubs and country. 
In 2013, when Lamela played for Roma, his team lost in the Italian Cup final to Lazio. 
As part of Tottenham, the Argentinean was twice defeated in the decisive matches of the League Cup: in 2015 from Chelsea and in 2021 from Manchester City, as well as in the Champions League in 2019 from Liverpool. 
Also, Argentina twice lost Copa America to Chile (in 2015 and 2016) when Lamela was part of it. 

*It was third consecutive Europa League final decided on shootouts.

*It was also the European final with the most cautioned footballers – 13 (Sevilla 6, Roma 7). The previous record of 12 bookings in the 2014 UCL final between Real Madrid and Atlético Madrid is exceeded.