After a bleak 1-1 draw against Roma in Budapest, Sevilla overcame Roma on penalties to win the title for a record-extending seventh time IN 18TH EUROPEAN SEASONS
Paolo Dybala’s well-placed goal gave Roma the lead in the first half, but Gianluca Mancini’s own goal gave Roma an equalizer as reward for a commanding second-half performance.
Gonzalo Montiel, who also scored the winning penalty for Argentina in the World Cup final against France, stepped forward to hit the decisive penalty after Roma missed its first two penalties in the shootout.
Mourinho was left tossing his losers medal to a small fan in the stands as Sevilla celebrated because he had previously won all five of the European finals in which he had participated.
“That’s what I did, I don’t want silver medals. I don’t keep silver medals, so I gave it away,” Mourinho said.
“I want to stay at Roma but my players deserve more, I deserve more. I don’t want to fight any more for that. I’m tired of being a coach, a communicator, the club’s spokesperson.”
It was one of the least disciplined European finals in recent history. In total 13 players were shown yellow cards, the most bookings in any Europa League game. Seven of them were to Roma players, a record for a final in a competition.
The 60-year-old refrained from answering questions about his future before the game, but he has been strongly connected with a summer transfer away from Rome to a team that would probably give him a far bigger transfer budget than he has worked with in the Italian city.
