Sevilla 1 Roma 1 (aet, 4-1 on pens): Mourinho loses first ever major European competition final in dramatic shoot-out
JOSE MOURINHO lost his head as the Kings of the Europa League ended his perfect run in European finals.
Sevilla needed penalties to extend their perfect to seven wins from seven finals, which left Mourinho in a rage.
The Roma boss stormed up and down the touchline, clashed with the other bench and gave ref Anthony Taylor hell amidst a battle in Budapest.
Paulo Dybala, who Mourinho had started despite saying he could only manage 15 minutes, grabbed a fine first half opener before it was cancelled out by a Gianluca Mancini own goal after the break.
Neither side could be separated from there until Gonzalo Montiel struck the winning penalty.
This was a meeting of two immovable European forces. Sevilla, the team that never loses European finals, against Mourinho, the manager who never loses them.
Sevilla had won this tournament each of the six times they have reached the final, Mourinho was undefeated in five European finals. Something had to give.
And it was the Giallorossi who carved the first opening, where Leonardo Spinazzola should have buried his effort from Zeki Celik but sent it straight at the keeper.
Everyone had expected Mourinho’s men to sit back, but they were on top and not just on the pitch.
The Romans well outnumbered the Spanish supporters inside the Puskas Arena and had the firemen working overtime ahead of kick-off as flares rained down from the stands.
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Mourinho was keeping his cool, though it would not last too long.
When Dybala rolled the opener past Yassine Buonou, the Portuguese grimaced and waved his players back as delirious substitutes and staff raced to celebrate.
Sevilla staff and players were quite rightly enraged, feeling Bryan Cristante had fouled Ivan Rakitic, opening up space for Mancini to setup Dybala with the perfect pass.
Mourinho knew there was a long way to go, but with a one-goal lead to protect he was in comfortable territory.
A Mourinho team had not conceded a goal in a European final since 2003, though Sevilla have their own impressive history to fall back on.
Ten minutes after the restart, with Rakitic having hit the post before the break, Mourinho’s 20-year record was undone by one of his own players.
Rakitic, Sevilla’s conductor, found former Manchester City man Jesus Navas on the right.
The full-back beat his man and swung in a cross which eluded Chris Smalling before being diverted into the net by Mancini.
Mourinho’s master plan was broken, but he was still on classic form.
Taylor did a fine job of keeping his head as Mourinho, his players and staff, who collected a number of bookings, erupted at each and every decision – especially when the ball struck Fernando’s arm in the penalty area.
Mourinho himself was booked, his sixth of the season, in extra time after sparking a huge row between the two benches.
Abraham, who battled until he had to limp off on 75 minutes, almost hooked one home from close range before Roger Ibanez sliced a simple effort wide.
Things turned the defender’s way soon after, with a VAR review overturning Taylor’s decision to award Lucas Ocampos a penalty after he dived under challenge from Ibanez.
It awoke Roma, who came so close to a normal time winner when Bounou tipped Andrea Belotti’s effort around the post.
Roma had been poor since going ahead and could not lift themselves to threaten in extra time as two tired teams limped towards penalties, with Roma players dropping like flies as the clock ticked on forever.
Smalling sent a header onto the top of the bar in the 138th minute, but this was also going to be settled from the spot.
Mancini saw his saved and Ibanez hit the post to hand Sevilla the advantage.
Rui Patricio saved from Montiel, who has never missed in his career, but in one final twist he was told to retake it after the keeper stepped off his line.
The man whose penalty won the World Cup stepped up again and delivered as Sevilla fans stormed the pitch to celebrate.