Sevilla stun Benfica on penalties to clinch their Europa League title

Turin Spanish side Sevilla sensationally claimed a third Europa League title after a dramatic penalty shootout in which Benfica pair Oscar Cardozo and Rodrigo missed from the spot to extend the Portuguese giants European final hoodoo in Turin on WednesdayBenfica recently crowned league and League Cup champions came to Turin confident of ending a 52year jinx that had seen them lose a total of seven European finals since winning the second of two consecutive European Cups in 1962Sevillas French forward Kevin Gameiro R shoots and scores the winning penalty Pic AFPBenfica had stumbled at the last hurdle five times in the European Cup once in the UEFA Cup 1983 and once in its successor the Europa League in 2013 when they lost 21 to Chelsea in AmsterdamYet despite creating the lions share of chances in an open flowing encounter the Benfica Curse as their unenvied streak has come to be known was maintained as Jorge Jesuss men ultimately failed to hit the net at Juventus StadiumJesus said the best team did not win the Europa League and added Sevilla started off better but as match progressed we improved and we were the better teamWe showed our power and created chances to score but couldnt And then in extra time the team that believed more in the penalties was SevillaBenficas fans celebrating in Turin only weeks ago having knocked Juventus out of the competition during a scoreless second leg draw in their semifinal had plenty of reason to feel aggrievedThe Portuguese were solid throughout and although Sevilla steered admirably by the surging runs and intelligent play of Croatian captain Ivan Rakitic created chances of their own Benfica should have had scored before the breakSevillas Portuguese keeper Beto produced two crucial saves in succession first denying Maxi Pereria from pointblank range as he ran on to volley and then diving low to block Rodrigos angled driveBenfica had claims for a penalty waved away when Nicolas Gaitan tumbled under a challenge from Federico Fazio and Sevillas defence was tested again at the start of a busy second half when Nicolas Pareja cleared Limas goalbound shot off the line and then two chances by Rodrigo were blocked by an astute Spanish defenceLima was then only denied by a superblytimed challenge from Coke as he waited to pull the trigger on Pereiras crossRodrigos firsttime shot was then blocked by Fazio and from virtually out of nowhere on 84 minutes Lima fired a curling drive which forced Beto to tip to safetyThe match remained scoreless after two 15minute periods of extra time and when it came to penalties Sevilla who claimed the second of their two titles from the Europa Leagues predecessor the UEFA Cup in 2007 stepped up to the plateSevilla coach Unai Emery admitted it had been delicate keeping his troops focusedAll you can do is tell them to be calm sure of themselves and not to have any doubts Its a delicate situation he saidSevilla were allowed to dream when Beto dived low to save Cardozos shot and after he then stopped Rodrigos equally tame effort Frenchman Kevin Gamerio sealed the win with his spotkick to make Sevilla the first team to win the Europa League on penaltiesRakitic was quick to pay tribute We all have to say thanks to Beto for stopping those penaltiesTheir triumph this year is all the more impressive as Emerys revamped side who only finished ninth in last seasons Spanish championship were given entry because two other clubs failed to meet the financial benchmark set by UEFAEmery admitted the competition is close to the clubs heart and suggested a massive turnout for their first qualifier had fed their ambition for a third titleAt our first match we had 30000 people in the stadium in a period in which most people are on holiday added the 42yearoldThats when we started to get excited about the competition We hadnt played in Europe the past two years and so we wanted to do something special