Sevilla knocks Juventus out of Europa League semi-finals
Coach Max Allegri lost Paul Pogba, Mattia De Sciglio, Leonardo Bonucci to injury and suddenly put Samuel Iling-Junior and Moise Kean in the starting lineup. On the opposite side, Sevilla was absent Tanguy Nianziou, Joan Jordan, Marcao, Pape Gueye but welcomed Lucas Ocampos back from injury.
Sevilla started with a series of corners, but the first real opportunities belonged to the visitors. In the 14th minute, Nicolo Fagioli cut his heart when a Sevilla midfielder headed the crossbar. In the corner right after that, Federico Gatti headed the near goal but goalkeeper Bono was still able to save.
Ten minutes later, Sevilla responded with a Lucas Ocampos header that was saved by goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny. Goal-line technology shows that the ball has not crossed the line.
After that, Juventus missed two delicious opportunities. Angel Di Maria clicked the ball out into the face of Bono, then Kean shot from close range into the corner. The difference was made in the 65th minute, when Dusan Vlahovic overcame the restraint of two Sevilla players and then kicked the ball with his left foot to open the scoring. Scoring just 58 seconds after replacing Kean, Vlahovic became the fastest Juventus substitute in Europa League and Champions League history.
If the result is maintained until the end of the match, Juventus will enter the final with a total score of 2-1. However, "Old Lady" was not able to preserve the advantage. In the 71st minute, Suso blew up the Sanchez Pizjuan school bridge with a cannon shot from a distance of nearly 25m to the high corner, out of Wojciech Szczesny's block.
In the fifth minute of extra time, Bryan Gil crossed from the left to Erik Lamela's header in an unmarked position, making it 2-1. From the 115th minute, Juventus was kicked more when Marcos Acuna received a second yellow card for buying time, but could not find an equalizer.
After the match, Allegri admitted Juventus lacked experience compared to Sevilla - the most successful team in Europa League history with six championships in 2006, 2007, 2014, 2015, 2016 and 2020. "This is a performance. good and are steps that players need to take to learn, especially young players," said the Italian coach. "It was a tight game, Juventus could have gone 2-1, but made a few mistakes after leading 1-0 and got punished."
Juventus have gone through a second straight season without a foot, with the aim of the rest to stay second in Serie A. "Unfortunately, this has been a difficult season. We have to shake off the disappointment. and put this energy into improving the score compared to last season," said Allegri.
Overcoming Juventus, Sevilla will meet Roma - the team that defeated Leverkusen with a total score of 1-0 in the remaining semi-finals - in the title match at Puskas Stadium, Budapest, Hungary on the evening of May 31.
