Sevilla FC will be looking to make UEFA Europa League history on Friday when they face Internazionale in the final at FC Koln’s Rhein Energie Stadium.
The Spanish side are looking to lift the trophy for a record sixth time. They are already the only side to have won the Europa League four times in the competition’s 49-year history.
Opponents Inter Milan are actually the joint-second most successful club in its history, winning it three times – all in the 1990s, when Italian football dominated the competition, winning seven of the 10 finals that decade.
Inter’s last success, back in 1998, is the last time a Serie A team won the Europa League. They head into their final game of the 2019-20 campaign as the favourites to add another trophy in their cabinet.
Julen Lopetegui’s side qualified for next season’s Champions League with the third best defensive record in La Liga and are unbeaten since a 2-1 loss at Celta Vigo all the way back in February.
To reach the final, Sevilla have conceded just five goals in their 11 games in this season’s competition, and two of them came away to F91 Dudelange in the group stage.
The Spanish side were 2-1 winners over Manchester United in the semi-finals last week, having previously beaten Wolverhampton Wanderers 1-0 and AS Roma 2-0 since the restart.
Their defence is certainly a good base from which they could win Friday’s final.
In attack, Lucas Ocampos is the club’s top scorer this season, whilst striker Luuk de Jong proved to be the hero in the semi-final.
Meanwhile, Roberto Mancini’s Inter Milan lost just one of their league games after the restart and won 2-0 away to high flying Atalanta on the final day of the season to finish runners-up.
Their route to the final came through the Champions League, finishing third in a group that included Barcelona and Borussia Dortmund. The knockout stages of this tournament have been fairly straightforward – a 2-0 win over Getafe, 2-1 against Bayer Leverkusen and 5-0 versus Shakhtar Donetsk last week.
Diego Godin and Stefan de Vrij are a part of solid back three, whilst Lautaro Martinez and Romelu Lukaku have been lethal up front in their first season together.
Antonio Candreva and Alexis Sanchez create a number of chances from out wide, whilst Marcelo Brozovic pulls the strings in the middle of the park.
It will be an interesting tactical battle between these two sides in Germany with Sevilla looking to make history and Inter looking to bring the Europa League back to Italy for the first time this millennium.
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