Sevilla president Jose Castro likened the Europa League competition to a religion. Castro said this ahead of the final against AS Roma. Sevilla faced AS Roma in the 2022-2023 Europa League final in Budapest, Hungary. The Sevilla vs AS Roma match was held at the Puskas Arena Stadium on (1/5/2023) local time.
Sevilla is the king of the Europa League or what used to be called the UEFA Cup. The club from Andalusia, Spain, is the most successful team in the history of the Europa League with a collection of six titles.
Sevilla’s record in the Europa League final is perfect. Six times in the final, six times the Los Nervionenses team lifted the trophy. With this impressive record, the Europa League is like a fun playground for Sevilla.
The president, Jose Castro, called the second-level European club competition a “religion” for Sevilla. According to Castro, the Europa League trophy may be less prestigious for other teams. However, for Sevilla, the Europa League title is a source of pride.
“We have the opportunity to play our seventh Europa League final. Maybe other clubs will throw it away, but we won’t. This competition is a religion for us,” Castro said, quoted from Football Italia.
The Europa League stage is an opportunity for Sevilla to make up for their less than convincing performance in domestic competition. Until week 37 of the Spanish La Liga, Jose Luis Mendilibar’s squad was still stuck in 11th place and certainly failed to qualify for European competition via the domestic route. If they are able to win the Europa League, Sevilla will appear in the Champions League next season.
“After the difficult and complicated season we’ve had, the reality is that we’ve turned things around in two months. We’ve put the team, the coach and the entity back in shape. We kept trying and we eliminated two great teams and then two other potential title winners like Manchester United and Juventus,” said Jose Castro.
For Sevilla and AS Roma, this final match will be their second meeting in European club competition. In the 2019-2020 season, the two teams met in the last 16 of the Europa League which at that time was held centrally in Germany due to the Covid-19 pandemic. As a result, at that time Sevilla was able to beat AS Roma with a score of 2-0 through goals from Sergio Reguilon and Youssef En Nesyri.
This time, indeed, Sevilla have won the Europa League final. They beat Roma 4-1 on penalties following a 1-1 draw after extra time. The victory extends Sevilla’s Europa League record as they lift the trophy for a seventh time. Sevilla also secured qualification for next season’s Champions League.
