Sevilla’s empire just will not fall, not even to the Romans. After three long, exhausting hours, the match that, like their extraordinary dominance of this competition, seemed like it would never end, came down to a single kick. Or so it seemed: instead, past midnight in Budapest, the Europa League final that began in May and didn’t conclude until June came down to two of them. Which somewhere in the noise and the nerves and the tension of the penalty shootout, of this whole wild night and Sevilla’s entire miraculous story, felt fitting. Just as it did when Jesús Navas, the kid who grew up at the club and the captain who is 37 now, lifted those 15 kilos of silver to the sky, 17 years after he first did so.
Two superb saves in the shoot out from Yassine Bono, from Roger Ibañez and Gianluca Mancini meant that Gonzalo Montiel, the Argentinian who scored the penalty that won his country the World Cup, was entrusted with taking the penalty that would win his club their seventh – yes, seventh – Europa League. This time he did not score, his shot saved by Roma’s Rui Patrício, but Anthony Taylor – who had awarded and taken away a penalty for Sevilla during the actual game – was advised by the VAR of an encroachment. And so he gave Montiel another chance, and this time he found the net, Sevilla supporters streaming down the stands and on to the pitch in celebration.
