Roma produced a display of extreme resilience to edge past Bayer Leverkusen and reach successive European finals under Jose Mourinho - setting up a Europa League final against Sevilla.
Mourinho masterminded the Italian club’s first European trophy in over 60 years as they won last season’s Conference League in his first campaign in Rome. The Giallorossi – 1-0 up from the first leg – frustrated the Bundesliga outfit throughout the encounter.
Leverkusen were the only side to threaten a goal throughout the tie and enjoyed the lion’s share of possession, but were unable to make the breakthrough against a typically well-drilled Mourinho side – who will play in next month’s final.
The first half statistics reflected both the home side’s domination of the ball – 73 percent possession – and chances in front of goal – with 12 efforts compared to just one for Roma. It was Moussa Diaby who came closest for the host, the lively forward smashing his effort off the frame of the goal after Rui Patricio was beaten.
Xabi Alonso’s side continued to see chance after chance pass them by in the second half with Roma happy to drop off, defend their box and allow the home side to fire off chances that were not clear cut.
The other semi-final tie was similarly well-balanced and hung in the balance throughout. Federico Gatti’s last-gasp header in the first leg in Turin had rescued a draw for Juventus after Youssef En-Nesyri had given Sevilla the lead.
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The second leg was goalless for an hour but was an open, pulsating encounter with big chances coming at both ends. Sevilla thought they had two strong penalty appeals turned down, while Juventus missed several glorious opportunities through Angel di Maria and Adrien Rabiot.
It was striker Dusan Vlahovic, introduced by Juve as a second half substitute in place of Moise Kean, gave the visitors the lead with a calmly dinked finish over Sevilla goalkeeper Bono following a punchy counter-attack.
The Italian giants had probably had the better chances until that point but Sevilla roared back six minutes later as Suso’s long-range strike flew into the top corner to level the tie. They dominated the remainder of the game but goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny produced a string of fine saves to bring the game into extra time.
Sevilla would not be denied as Erik Lamela bagged an injury-time winner and despite a late red card for Marcos Acuna, they held on to reach the final. The record competition winners have won all six previous finals, and now come up against Mourinho.
