It was a sad night for veteran Portuguese manager Jose Mourinho, as Sevilla’s victory over AS Roma in the UEL final last night brought the 60-year-old’s European final victory streak to an end.
Roma’s World Cup winning Argentinian superstar Paulo Dybala made a calm and brilliant finish after going past all the defenders in the 35th minute, giving Roma the lead in the first half in Budapest.
Sevilla came back stronger in the second half, threatening the goal multiple times in the opening minutes. They eventually found the back of the net in the 55th minute, after Jesus Navas’s cross took a rebound off Roma defender Gianluca Manicini and landed past goalkeeper Rui Patricio.
The game remained 1-1 until even the 120th minute, and the match went to penalties, where Sevilla goalkeeper Yassin Bounou heroically stopped Roma’s second and third penalty kicks, securing the title for Sevilla for a record seventh time.
Sevilla's hero in the Europa League final 🤝 Morocco's hero at the World Cup
BONO 🧱 pic.twitter.com/9EUaA4jBE6
— B/R Football (@brfootball) May 31, 2023
Jose Mourinho’s unbeaten streak in European finals comes to an end
After five consecutive victories in European championship finals, Europa League specialists Sevilla handed Roma coach Jose Mourinho his first loss in the competition.
“I have to fight for these lads and therefore not say objectively that I will remain,” Mourinho told Sky Italy following the defeat. “I lost this one, but I return home prouder than ever this time.”
Taking this terrible Roma team to back to back European finals was already an overachievement.
Jose Mourinho still remains one of the greatest managers of all time. pic.twitter.com/8H7soCCuen
— Janty (@CFC_Janty) May 31, 2023
Jose Mourinho’s first European victory came with FC Porto in 2002-03, where the Portuguese manager won the UEFA Cup. He then continued on to win the UEFA Champions League with FC Porto in 2003-04.
The 60-year-old also won the 2009-10 Champions League with Inter Milan, 2016-17 Europa League with Manchester United, and the 2021-22 UEFA Conference League with Roma.
Sevilla extends record for most UEL trophy wins
With this victory in the 2022-23 UEL final, Sevilla has added their seventh UEFA Europa League title to their trophy cabinet, which was already the most any team has ever managed to obtain.
This is Sevilla’s fifth Europa League title in the past decade. Previously, they won the title in the years 2006, 2007, 2014, 2015, 2016, and 2020.
Jesus Navas was with Sevilla when they won their first Europa League in 2006.
He won their seventh at age 37 today 💫 pic.twitter.com/nUnvq8h2bG
— B/R Football (@brfootball) May 31, 2023
Sevilla will be facing Real Sociedad in their final La Liga game of the season on Sunday, hoping to end the current season on a high note with a victory.
