Being played behind closed doors with no fans in attendance (no thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic) did not stop the Europa League finals between Inter Milan and Sevilla from serving some quality final match goodness last night.
The very dramatic clash saw 5 times winners, Sevilla come from a goal down to clinch a record 6th Europa League trophy following a 3-2 victory over Inter in the keenly contested showdown.
Inter Milan took the lead in the opening minutes of the game through a converted spot kick by Romelu Lukaku following a foul on him by Diego Carlos.
Antonio Conte’s men had very little time to enjoy their lead as Sevilla soon equalised with a header through Luuk de Jong.
All out for the head game, de Jong found the back of the net with another header to put his team in front.
Without wasting mush time, Inter levelled things up thanks to a Diego Godin header ending the game levelled 2-2 at half time.
The second half produced a couple of missed chances from both teams till Diego Carlos, wearing a bandage on his leg, struck the decisive goal in the 74th minute with an overhead kick which took a huge deflection off Inter forward Romelu Lukaku, and a resilient Sevilla ensured that was enough to seal the game.
Sevilla’s existence as a football club might not have depended on the win, but the victory meant so much to their coach, Julen Lopetegui who got very emotional at the end of the game which saw him win his first trophy as a manager after experiencing rough patches in his career, sacked as the manager of the Spanish national team days before the 2018 World Cup, then that same year, Real Madrid showed him the exit after just four months in charge.
Sevilla have now come from behind to win in their last 3 Europa League finals as their love story with the Europa contains.
The defeat left Inter Milan crushed as their futile search for a trophy now runs into 10 years!
Chin up Inter, you did your best, it just wasn’t enough!
