EUROPA League
LIVE: EUROPA LEAGUE FINAL: SEVILLA 3-2 INTER MILAN
Full time! Sevilla are six time Europa league winners!!
90min: Antonio Conte makes another switch , sending on Antonio Candreva for Godin.
+6mins added time
88min: Sevilla players are going down at every opportunity now. Frustration brewing over for Inter now who can’t get any sustained pressure on the Spanish side.
GOAL! SEVILLA 3-2 Inter Milan
74min: What a turnaround in fortunes! Just over an hour ago, Diego Carlos was bringing down Romelu Lukaku for a penalty.
Now the defender’s overhead kick following a Sevilla free-kick deflects off the striker for an own goal, and a remarkable sixth Europa League trophy is within sight for the Spanish side.
Sevilla 2-2 Inter Milan
51min: Sevilla are seeing more of the ball in the early stages of this second half, but these first six minutes have probably been the quietest of the game so far.
Sevilla restart – no changes from either side
What are we going with for a full-time score, 6-6?
The second half begins.
De Jong becomes the first Dutchman to score in UEFA Cup/UEL final since Van Hooijdonk in 2002
Diego Godin, who scored in the 2014 Champions League final for Atlético, is the sixth player to score in both a European Cup/Champions League final and a UEFA Cup/Europa League final after Steven Gerrard, Hernan Crespo, Dmitri Alenichev, Allan Simonsen and Pedro. Collection.
Half time round up
- Inter and Sevilla produce thriller in Cologne
- Godín nods Sevilla level from set piece
- De Jong heads two after Lukaku penalty
- Sides level record for first-half UEL final goals
- Spaniards boast perfect final record (P5 W5)
HALF-TIME VERDICT: Sevilla
A good half of football from Sevilla, with the Spaniards controlling large swathes of the game. You have to feel they’ll be disappointed in the manner of concession of both goals, but can take heart from the problems they’ve caused Inter.
Half time
Sevilla 2-2 Inter Milan
39min: Bit sneaky from Nicolo Barella, who is late with his challenge on Ever Banega to pick up a yellow card. There has been no pattern to his first half at all. This is madness, yet enjoyable madness.
Gooooal!
Godín (Internazionale) scores!
This is astonishing; it’s 2-2! It is almost a replica of Sevilla’s second goal as Brozović clips in a deep free-kick from a similar area and Godín storms through the crowd to head past Bounou.
GOAL! SEVILLA 2-1 Inter Milan
12 minutes is the earliest both sides have scored in a UEFA Cup/Europa League final since 1990 when Fiorentina versus Juventus was 1-1 after only 10 minutes. Intense
Romelu Lukaku is the first player to score in six consecutive knockout stage matches in major European competition since Cristiano Ronaldo between 2012 and 2013. Inevitable.
Inter have scored in 50 of their 54 games this season now. Sevilla have only failed to score four times too in their last 44 games following De Jong’s effort. The scoreline should not really be a surprise given those facts
Lukaku has matched Ronaldo’s number of goals (34) during his first season at Inter (1997/98). He now needs the most difficult part to really equal him: bringing the trophy home.
Inter have scored during the first half in ten of their last 11 European matches now.
Sevilla 1-1 Inter Milan
18min: You can’t take your eyes off this game, it’s insane! Inter want another penalty against Diego Carlos (who else?) but he is innocent on this occasion as the handball claim against him was more ball to hand.
Not that Inter boss Antonio Conte agreed on the touchline as he is booked for his protest.
GOAL! SEVILLA 1-1 Inter Milan
12min: Oh, it’s one of those nights is it? Excellent response from Sevilla as Jesus Navas swings in a cross from the right and at the near post Luuk de Jong justifies his selection by diverting home with a diving header.
Jesús Navas (Sevilla)12’Gooooal!
L. de Jong (Sevilla) scores!
GOAL! Sevilla 0-1 INTER MILAN
5min: Diego Carlos, who has given away penalties in the quarter-finals and the semi-finals has now got the hat-trick in the final.
There was never any doubt as he was booked for practically assaulting Romelu Lukaku as they tussled inside the box, with the striker eventually dusting himself down to drill his penalty into the bottom corner.
The two previous single match UEFA Cup/UEFA Europa League finals which were played in Germany both involved Spanish teams and went into extra time – Liverpool vs Alavés (2001) and Atlético vs Fulham (2010).
Italy’s Inter meet Spain’s Sevilla in Cologne. The Italians have named an unchanged side form their semi-final match. But in Sevilla, De Jong replaces En-Nesyri. Meanwhile, Sevilla boast perfect final record (P5 W5)
- Sevilla starting XI: Bono, Navas, Kounde, Carlos, Reguilon, Jordan, Fernando, Banega, Ocampos, De Jong, Suso
- Inter Milan starting XI: Handanovic, Godin, De Vrij, Bastoni, D’Ambrosio, Barella, Brozovic, Gagliardini, Young, Lukaku, Martinez
EUROPA League
Amorim shrugs off Onana mistakes after Manchester Utd held to draw

Manchester United manager Ruben Amorim defended under-fire goalkeeper Andre Onana following the Cameroonian’s costly mistakes in his side’s 2-2 draw at Olympique Lyonnais in their Europa League quarter-final first leg on Thursday.
Onana allowed Thiago Almada’s free kick to squirm past him in the Groupama Stadium and was also at fault for Rayan Cherki’s last-gasp equaliser that denied United victory.
Since the start of last season, no Premier League club’s goalkeeper has made more errors leading to goals being conceded in all competitions than Onana.
“It can happen, if you play football, you play a lot of games, you can make mistakes,” Amorim said. “If you look at the season, I make more mistakes than them during these last games and these last months.
“The other thing is we have one more game to change everything and that should be our focus.
“The best thing is to look at the goals, all the actions that Andre had in the game, this is the best way to help any player, it’s to focus on the game, what happened, what we need to improve.”
United nonetheless remain unbeaten in this season’s Europa League — the only side to do so this term — after goals from Leny Yoro and Joshua Zirkzee put them on course for a potential victory.
The team, who are 13th in the English Premier League standings, still go into next week’s second leg in Manchester as favourites to book a spot in the last four.
“It was an entertaining game,” Amorim added. “We had some difficulty in the first half trying to press, because Lyon played in a different way. Then, in the middle of the first half and especially the second, we controlled the game.
“The second leg will be a different game. At home, our fans want us to press all the time.”
-Reuters
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EUROPA League
Man Utd’s Maguire and Ugarte out of Europa League clash v Real Sociedad

Manchester United will be without defender Harry Maguire and midfielder Manuel Ugarte for Thursday’s Europa League last-16 clash with Real Sociedad, coach Ruben Amorim said, as he seeks to salvage an otherwise dire season.
The pair were left out of an already depleted squad after picking up injuries in last weekend’s penalty shootout defeat to Fulham that dumped them out of the FA Cup to compound the misery of lying 14th in the Premier League.
“We are being careful with them because at the moment we cannot afford to lose any more players for a long time,” Amorim told a press conference on Wednesday before the Europa League first leg game in Spain.
“We are taking care of them at Carrington (training ground) and they cannot play this game because it will be a greater risk.”
The coach, who joined United in November, stressed the importance of balancing youth development with the needs of the squad during a worsening injury crisis.
“I’m trying to cope with everything. When I do my squad, I’m trying to think about every aspect, of the formation of the (new) kids, of the squad and not if it will look really well with the fans and the media,” Amorim said.
Altay Bayindir, Tom Heaton, Jonny Evans, Kobbie Mainoo, Luke Shaw and Mason Mount remain on individual rehabilitation programmes.
Lisandro Martinez, who tore his anterior cruciate ligament, and Amad Diallo, who suffered an ankle ligament injury in training, are also sidelined.
-Reuters
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EUROPA League
Fernandes seals Man United win, Son shines for Spurs

Manchester United captain Bruno Fernandes scored a last-gasp winner to secure a 2-1 victory over Rangers in the Europa League group stage on Thursday and Tottenham Hotspur captain Son Heung-min struck twice in his team’s 3-2 win at Hoffenheim.
United climbed to fourth in the standings on 15 points going into the last round of matches, in a strong position to reach the knockout phase along with Spurs who are sixth with 14 points.
The English side broke the deadlock early in the second half when Rangers goalkeeper Jack Butland misjudged a Christian Eriksen corner, sending the ball into his own net.
Rangers fought back with an equaliser from substitute Cyril Dessers two minutes from time before Fernandes struck in added time to give United all three points.
In Germany, James Maddison opened the scoring for Spurs in the third minute and Son doubled the lead in a first half the visitors dominated.
Hoffenheim pulled one back in the 68th minute through Anton Stach’s counter-attack goal. Son restored Spurs’ two-goal lead in the 77th minute before the hosts’ David Mokwa scored to give his side late hope but the game ended in a narrow win for the English side.
Lazio stayed top of the standings with a commanding 3-1 home victory over Real Sociedad to become the first team to qualify for the round of 16.
Mario Gila struck after five minutes and when Sociedad’s Aihen Munoz was shown a second yellow card on the half-hour mark, Lazio immediately seized the advantage.
Mattia Zaccagni quickly doubled the lead and Taty Castellanos effectively ended the match with a third for the hosts. Ander Barrenetxea scored a late consolation goal for Sociedad.
Eintracht Frankfurt moved closer to securing a top-eight spot with a 2-0 home win over Hungarian side Ferencvaros thanks to second-half goals from Can Uzun and Hugo Ekitike. They are second in the standings with 16 points, three ahead of ninth-placed Galatasaray.
A late goal from Troy Parrott gave AZ Alkmaar a 1-0 home win over AS Roma and Olympiacos earned a 1-0 victory at Porto thanks to a late goal from Ayoub El Kaabi.
Dutch side Alkmaar can still reach the top eight with 11 points sitting in 14th place while Roma’s nine points place them 21st, close to the bottom of the playoff section.
Fenerbahce and Olympique Lyonnais played out an intense goalless draw in Istanbul, leaving the French side in a strong position to progress to fifth place in the group on 14 points.
-Reuters
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