Sevilla win in extra time to face Roma in Europa League final

By Can Erozden

ANKARA (AA) - Sevilla beat Juventus 2-1 in extra time Thursday and will face Roma in the 2023 UEFA Europa League final.

Juventus' Serbian forward Dusan Vlahovic delivered a fine strike in the box to score the opener in the 65th minute at Seville's Ramon Sanchez-Pizjuan Stadium.

Sevilla forward Suso scored a screamer to level the semifinal match in the 71st minute.

The match went to extra time after regular time ended 1-1.

Argentine midfielder Erik Lamela's header in the 95th minute took Sevilla to the final in Budapest.

The Spanish club won 3-2 on aggregate.

Sevilla secured a record six UEFA Cups/UEFA Europa Leagues in 2006, 2007, 2014, 2015, 2016 and 2020, and they headed their seventh Europa League final.

Roma drew with Germany's Bayer Leverkusen 0-0 in the other semifinal match at BayArena to reach the final.

The Italian club won the first leg 1-0 at Olimpico.

A Jose Mourinho-led Roma won the 2022 UEFA Europa Conference League title.

Portuguese head coach Mourinho is now eyeing another UEFA trophy as the 60-year-old secured the top-tier UEFA Champions League with Porto (2004) and Inter Milan (2010), the UEFA Cup with Porto (2003), and the Europa League with Manchester United (2017).

Introduced in 1971, Europe's second-tier UEFA Cup was rebranded the Europa League in 2009.

Budapest's Puskas Arena will host this season's Europa League final on May 31.

The 2023 Europa League's winning club will gain a spot in the next season's UEFA Champions League group phase if they can’t qualify via their domestic leagues.

Puskas Arena was named after Ferenc Puskas, who was a well-known Hungarian football legend and Real Madrid great, and UEFA has confirmed that it can host approximately 63,000 spectators.

The stadium previously hosted several UEFA EURO 2020 matches and the 2020 UEFA Super Cup between Bayern Munich and Sevilla.