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| Sevilla Celebrating Europa Cup |
Two goals from Coke saw Sevilla come
from behind to win a third consecutive Europa League with a 3-1 victory over
Liverpool in Basle.
Unai Emery's men, outplayed in the
first half, responded with an emphatic second 45 minutes to leave Liverpool
reeling and condemn Jurgen Klopp to a fifth-straight defeat in a major final.
Liverpool, who had dispatched
Villarreal so impressively in the second leg of the semi-final, were the better
side in the first half and deservedly took the lead when Daniel Sturridge
curled in a superb finish from the edge of the area.
But Sevilla, who came from behind to
beat Dnipro in last year's final, responded seconds after half-time with Kevin
Gameiro's 29th goal of the season, before Coke capped a fine team move to put
the holders ahead.
Klopp, whose side also lost the
League Cup final to Manchester City in February, introduced Divock Origi in a
bid to find a response but Coke struck a crucial blow 20 minutes from time,
steering the ball beyond Simon Mignolet from close range despite Liverpool's
appeals for offside.
Liverpool produced a memorable
comeback against AC Milan to win their last European trophy in 2005, but there
was to be no repeat of those Istanbul heroics as Sevilla became the first team
to win Europe's secondary competition three years running and ensured a spot in
next season's Champions League.
Sevilla started with more control in
a cagey opening 10 minutes, although Emre Can brought the first save of the
match out of David Soria with a low effort from the edge of the area.
Daniel Carrico made a timely
intervention to hook Sturridge's header off the line as Liverpool began to look
threatening on the break, and Roberto Firmino felt he should have earned a
penalty when he diverted the ball into the arm of the Sevilla centre-back.
Gameiro got his first sight of goal,
hooking a bicycle kick narrowly wide of the near post following a corner, but
Sturridge produced a moment of magic to open the scoring 10 minutes before the
break.
Philippe Coutinho found Sturridge on
the edge of the area and the England striker bent a sublime finish beyond Soria
with the outside of his left foot.
Lovren thought he had made it 2-0
with a towering header four minutes later, but the assistant referee flagged
for offside after Sturridge had stuck out a foot to intercept the ball.
The Liga side would have been glad
to go into the break just a goal behind but they produced a fine response just
17 seconds into the second half. Mariano skipped easily past the challenge of
former Sevilla full-back Alberto Moreno and squared across goal for Gameiro,
who tapped into an unguarded net.
Sevilla, suddenly buoyant, missed
two great chances to take the lead through Gameiro before the hour mark. The
Frenchman was first denied by a fine block tackle from Kolo Toure after racing
in behind the Liverpool back line, before he scuffed a volley straight at
Mignolet after Steven N'Zonzi's header found him completely unmarked six yards
out.
Yet just as Sevilla looked as though
they might rue those misses, Coke stepped up to put his side in control. A fine
passing move involving Ever Banega and Vitolo saw Sevilla slice through the
heart of Liverpool's midfield, and when the ball broke to Coke, he rifled a
first-time shot into Mignolet's bottom-right corner.
And Coke put the holders on the
brink of an historic win six minutes later, squeezing a shot in off Mignolet
from the right of the six-yard box after the ball had deflected off Coutinho
and into the Sevilla captain's path.
Liverpool pushed for a repeat of the
dramatic comeback which saw them oust Borussia Dortmund in the semi-finals, but
Sevilla held on to lift the trophy in front of their vociferous supporters.
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