Before Wednesday night, Jose Mourinho had won every European final he’s managed. Sevilla had reached 6 Europa League finals and won every one of them.
In the end, something had to give and after 146 minutes of attritional football, Sevilla won on penalties. The unstoppable force prevailed over the immovable object.
Roma took the lead through the half-fit Pablo Dybala, who had to be substituted after an hour. Without him, apparently all that was left for the Serie A side was gamesmanship.
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A Gianluca Mancini own goal in the second half leveled the score as the game droned on through extra time.
Although Sevilla weren’t fantastic either, they had the better of the game. They had 19 shots compared to Roma’s 11.
Sevilla had 67% of the possession and completed 694 passes compared to Roma’s 348. They completed their passes at a rate of 82% compared to Roma’s 64%.
Yet, Jose Mourinho nearly escaped the Puskas Arena with a sixth European trophy. Perhaps it was Sevilla’s insane dominance over the Europa League that pushed them over the line in the penalty shootout.
Perhaps it was some kind of karma from the football gods that brought a stodgy game to something approaching a satisfying conclusion. Either way, Sevilla have won yet another Europa League and Jose Mourinho has taken a reputational hit in Italy.
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His spell over English football has been broken since he last won the league with Chelsea in 2015. His final season as Real Madrid manager ensures he’s not revered in Spain, either.
The last place he’s still considered a top manager is Serie A, and the Roma fans love him. He delivered their first European trophy in the form of the Conference League last year.
However, as he keeps finding, cynical football is less and less effective the more time goes on. Mourinho’s comments recently suggest that if he gets a better offer than Roma, he will leave. This is classic Mourinho at this point. Come in, bluster, underwhelm and leave.
It’s difficult to see where he goes from here, though.
