AS Roma, West Ham reach Europa finals
Football
By
Associated Press
| May 19, 2023
Jose Mourinho will have a chance to claim a sixth European trophy, although to achieve that his Roma team will have to stop Sevilla from winning a record-extending seventh Europa League title.
Roma reached the Europa League final by holding Bayer Leverkusen to a 0-0 draw in Germany on Thursday following the kind of disciplined defensive performance that Mourinho's teams have become known for. The Italian club went through 1-0 on aggregate after winning the first leg of the semifinal at home.
Roma will face six-time champion Sevilla, which knocked out Juventus with a 2-1 win after extra time to prevent an all-Italian final.
The final takes place on May 31 in the Hungarian capital of Budapest.
Leverkusen forward Moussa Diaby hit the crossbar early and Roma goalkeeper Rui Patricio was busy at times but Roma's defense held firm, despite the team rarely venturing forward and managing just one effort on goal in the entire game.
READ MORE
Ngugi wa Thiong'o and the African literary revolution
Tanzania doctor describes bodies taken from morgue as fresh protests loom
Mourinho is bidding for back-to-back European titles with Roma after winning the inaugural edition of the Europa Conference League last season. He has won the Europa League - or UEFA Cup as it was previously known - with both Porto and Manchester United and also has two Champions League titles.
"It's an unbelievable team, I don't know if I can ask for more from Roma but these guys deserve something special," Mourinho told Sky Sports.
Winning the Europa League could also be the only chance for Roma to qualify for next season's Champions League.
Sevilla trailed 1-0 at home in the second half but substitute Erik Lamela set up the equalizer that forced extra time and then headed in the winner in the 95th minute at the Ramon Sanchez-Pizjuan stadium.
After the two teams drew 1-1 in Torino last week, substitute striker Dusan Vlahovic gave Juventus the lead in the 65th with a precise chip from inside the area.
Suso, another substitute, scored the equalizer with a long-range effort seven minutes later.
Sevilla defender Marcos Acuna was sent off after picking up his second yellow card five minutes before the final whistle.
Sevilla hopes to salvage a turbulent season with a seventh triumph in the second-tier European competition.
It sits just 10th in the Spanish league but has once again showed that it thrives in Europe, knocking out Manchester United in the quarterfinals.
Sevilla won the trophy six times between 2006-20.
EUROPA CONFERENCE LEAGUE
Substitute Pablo Fornals scored deep into stoppage time for West Ham to beat AZ in Alkmaar 1-0 in the second leg of the Europa Conference League semifinals and send the Premier League club to a European final for the first time in 47 years.
The aftermath was then marred by crowd trouble when some Dutch supporters tried to storm into the area reserved for friends and family of the visiting players behind the dugout after the final whistle.
West Ham players including Michail Antonio, Said Benrahma, Aaron Cresswell and Flynn Downes climbed over the advertising boards in a bid to stop the trouble.
"I can't explain what happened and why it happened," West Ham manager David Moyes said. "I can only say the players were involved because it was the family section and most of their family and friends were in there. That was probably the reason for the reaction."
West Ham will face Fiorentina in the final in Prague on June 7.
The Hammers have been waiting for a European trophy since the 1965 title in the European Cup Winners' Cup and reached the final in the same competition again in 1976.
Fiorentina also needed extra time to advance, with substitute midfielder Antonin Barak netting the decisive goal in the 129th minute to secure a 3-1 win at Basel. Fiorentina trailed 2-1 from the first leg but reached its first European final since 1990.
Fiorentina's Nicolas Gonzalez was unmarked at the far post to put the visitors 1-0 ahead after a corner kick from Cristiano Biraghi in the 35th.
Forward Zeki Amdouni leveled the score at 1-1 for Basel 10 minutes into the second half, a result that would have sent the Swiss club to a European final for the first time. The Swiss forward scored in six of the last seven games in the knockout stage, including the first leg of the semifinals.
Gonzalez scored his second goal at St.Jakob-Park with a low left-foot shot in the 72nd to force extra time.
Fiorentina's win means Italy has a team in the final of all three UEFA competitions, with Inter Milan facing Manchester City in the Champions League title match.