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Spanish club Sevilla defeated Italian club Roma 4-1 on penalties in the UEFA Europa League final at the Puskas Arena on Thursday. Reacting to the win Sevilla's goalkeeper Yassine Bounou congratulated his fellow teammates and expressed his emotions after the win.
"I've had a lot of moments like this and I realised that you have to be very calm to deal with them. My teammates also give me a lot of calm and security," Bounou said as per UEFA League official website. "Congratulations to all the guys and to all of Seville. This year has been full of emotions, between the World Cup and today. Sometimes you don't really analyse what's going on. I have always said that I am a man of the club, ready to defend Sevilla. Mendilibar trusted me and I have to repay his trust," he added. Sevilla won the title for a record seventh time in the last 18 years, thus, becoming the most successful team in the competition. The match ended as a 1-1 draw after minutes. Extra time was initiated to decide the result between the two teams but even after the extra time, the scoreline remained at 1-1. Roma's Paulo Dybala opened the scoring for his team in the 34th minute of the match. In the second half, Sevilla attacked well and created pressure on the defence of Roma. Therefore, forcing them to make a mistake. In the 55th minute of the match, Roma's player Gianluca Mancini conceded an own goal for his side. Thus, the score was levelled at 1-1. The match was tied 1-1 after the full-time. Extra time was effected to decide the result between the two teams but it failed to break the deadlock. The match then moved to penalties. Sevilla's Gonzalo Montiel, who scored the winning penalty for Argentina in the FIFA World Cup 2022, found himself in the same situation as he got the chance to score the winning penalty for Sevilla and win the title for them. The fans and players witnessed late drama as Roma's keeper Rui Patricio saved the winning penalty of Gonzalo Montiel but the penalty kick was asked by the referee to be retaken as Patricio stepped over the goal line to make the save. Gonzalo Montiel got another chance to make this a fairytale ending for himself and Sevilla. He sent the goalkeeper the wrong way and struck the ball in the bottom left of the net, thus winning the match for Sevilla. Sevilla took a total of 19 shots of which only three were on target. Their possession on the ball was 67 per cent. They completed a total of 690 passes with an accuracy of 82 per cent. Roma took 19 shots of which four were on target. Their possession on the ball was 33 per cent. They completed 347 passes with an accuracy of 65 per cent. The final also saw a lot of hard tackles and fouls. Sevilla committed a total of 21 fouls whereas, Roma conceded 19 fouls in the game. Sevilla was given six yellow cards and Roma was given seven yellow cards. Reacting to the win Jose Luis Mendilibar, Sevilla coach said, "I'm happy to be here, to have won for the club, which was having a hard time when we got here. When they scored, you think that it would be very difficult to score against them." "The equaliser came quickly in the second half and gave us the strength to continue in the fight to win the game. Taking a penalty in training and then taking one with 60,000 fans is nothing like the same. We haven't practised in any of the previous rounds. We had confidence in the people who were going to take them." the Sevilla's coach was quoted as saying by UEFA League's official website. Sevilla is the most successful club in UEFA Cup/Europa League history with seven titles (2006, 2007, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2020, 2023), four more than any other club. (ANI)
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