2020 UEFA Europa League final

The 2020 UEFA Europa League final was the final match of the 2019–20 UEFA Europa League, the 49th season of Europe's secondary club football tournament organised by UEFA, and the 11th season since it was renamed from the UEFA Cup to the UEFA Europa League. It was played at the RheinEnergieStadion in Cologne, Germany on 21 August 2020, between Spanish side Sevilla and Italian side Inter Milan. The match was held behind closed doors due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Europe.[5]

2020 UEFA Europa League final
Match programme cover
Event2019–20 UEFA Europa League
Sevilla Inter Milan
Spain Italy
3 2
Date21 August 2020 (2020-08-21)
VenueRheinEnergieStadion, Cologne
Man of the MatchLuuk de Jong (Sevilla)[1]
RefereeDanny Makkelie (Netherlands)[2]
Attendance0[3][note 1]
WeatherPartly cloudy night
24 °C (75 °F)
55% humidity[4]

The final was originally scheduled to be played on 27 May 2020 at the Stadion Energa Gdańsk in Gdańsk, Poland.[6] However, UEFA announced on 23 March 2020 that the final was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[7] On 17 June 2020, the UEFA Executive Committee chose to relocate the final to Cologne, as part of a "final-eight tournament" consisting of single-match knockout ties played in four stadiums across Germany.[8]

Sevilla won the match 3–2 for their record sixth UEFA Cup/Europa League title. As winners, they earned the right to play against the winners of the 2019–20 UEFA Champions League, Bayern Munich, in the 2020 UEFA Super Cup. They also qualified to enter the group stage of the 2020–21 UEFA Champions League; since Sevilla had already qualified through their league performance, the berth reserved was given to the third-placed team of the 2019–20 Ligue 1 (Rennes), the 5th-ranked association according to next season's access list.[9]

Teams

In the following table, finals until 2009 were in the UEFA Cup era, since 2010 were in the UEFA Europa League era.

Team Previous final appearances (bold indicates winners)
Spain Sevilla 5 (2006, 2007, 2014, 2015, 2016)
Italy Inter Milan 4 (1991, 1994, 1997, 1998)

Venue
For the details on the selection of Gdańsk as the original host for the final, see 2021 UEFA Europa League Final § Host selection.
The stadium was renamed to "Stadion Köln" for the match.

The UEFA Executive Committee chose RheinEnergieStadion in Cologne as the host at their meeting on 17 June 2020.[8] This was the first UEFA club competition final hosted at the stadium and the first Europa League final held in Germany since 2010. During the two-legged final era, the country hosted either one or both legs 11 times, before hosting the single-legged 2001 UEFA Cup Final in Dortmund and the 2010 final in Hamburg.

The stadium was first opened in 1923 as the Müngersdorfer Stadion and has been the home stadium of German Bundesliga side 1. FC Köln since 1948. It underwent two major renovations during its lifetime. It hosted UEFA Euro 1988 as well as the 2005 FIFA Confederations Cup and the 2006 FIFA World Cup.

Background

The match was a record-extending sixth UEFA Cup/Europa League final for Sevilla, the most successful team in competition history. The club won all their prior finals in 2006, 2007, 2014, 2015 and 2016.[10]

Inter Milan reached their fifth UEFA Cup/Europa League final, second only to Sevilla. They previously won three finals in 1991, 1994 and 1998, and lost to Schalke 04 in 1997. They were the first Italian team to reach a UEFA Cup/Europa League final since Parma in 1999.[10]

Road to the final
Further information: 2019–20 UEFA Europa League and 2019–20 UEFA Champions League

Note: In all results below, the score of the finalist is given first (H: home; A: away; N: neutral).

Spain Sevilla Round Italy Inter Milan
Europa League Champions League
Opponent Result Group stage (EL, CL) Opponent Result
Azerbaijan Qarabağ 3–0 (A) Matchday 1 Czech Republic Slavia Prague 1–1 (H)
Cyprus APOEL 1–0 (H) Matchday 2 Spain Barcelona 1–2 (A)
Luxembourg F91 Dudelange 3–0 (H) Matchday 3 Germany Borussia Dortmund 2–0 (H)
Luxembourg F91 Dudelange 5–2 (A) Matchday 4 Germany Borussia Dortmund 2–3 (A)
Azerbaijan Qarabağ 2–0 (H) Matchday 5 Czech Republic Slavia Prague 3–1 (A)
Cyprus APOEL 0–1 (A) Matchday 6 Spain Barcelona 1–2 (H)
Group A winners

Pos Team Pld Pts
1 Spain Sevilla 6 15
2 Cyprus APOEL 6 10
3 Azerbaijan Qarabağ 6 5
4 Luxembourg F91 Dudelange 6 4
Source: UEFA
 Final standings Group F third place

Pos Team Pld Pts
1 Spain Barcelona 6 14
2 Germany Borussia Dortmund 6 10
3 Italy Inter Milan 6 7
4 Czech Republic Slavia Prague 6 2
Source: UEFA
Europa League
Opponent Agg. 1st leg 2nd leg Knockout phase Opponent Agg. 1st leg 2nd leg
Romania CFR Cluj 1–1 (a) 1–1 (A) 0–0 (H) Round of 32 Bulgaria Ludogorets Razgrad 4–1 2–0 (A) 2–1 (H)
Italy Roma 2–0 (N) Round of 16 Spain Getafe 2–0 (N)
England Wolverhampton Wanderers 1–0 (N) Quarter-finals Germany Bayer Leverkusen 2–1 (N)
England Manchester United 2–1 (N) Semi-finals Ukraine Shakhtar Donetsk 5–0 (N)

Pre-match
Original identity of the 2020 UEFA Europa League Final

Identity

The original identity of the 2020 UEFA Europa League Final was unveiled at the group stage draw on 30 August 2019.[11]

Ambassador

The original ambassador for the Gdańsk final was former Polish international Andrzej Buncol,[12] who won the 1987–88 UEFA Cup with Bayer Leverkusen.

Officials

On 18 August 2020, UEFA named Dutchman Danny Makkelie as the referee for the final. Makkelie had been a FIFA referee since 2011, and was previously an additional assistant referee in the 2018 UEFA Europa League Final and the video assistant referee in the 2019 UEFA Champions League Final. He was also an assistant video assistant referee in the 2018 FIFA World Cup Final. He was joined by four of his fellow countrymen, with Mario Diks and Hessel Steegstra as assistant referees, Jochem Kamphuis as the video assistant referee and Kevin Blom as one of the assistant VAR officials. The other assistant VAR for the final was Paweł Gil from Poland, with his compatriot Tomasz Sokolnicki serving as the offside VAR official. Anastasios Sidiropoulos of Greece was the fourth official.[2]

Match

Details

The "home" team (for administrative purposes) was determined by an additional draw held on 10 July 2020 (after the quarter-final and semi-final draws), at the UEFA headquarters in Nyon, Switzerland.

Sevilla Spain3–2Italy Inter Milan
  • De Jong 12', 33'
  • Lukaku 74' (o.g.)
 Report
Attendance: 0[3][note 1]
Sevilla[4]
Inter Milan[4]
GK13Morocco Yassine Bounou
RB16Spain Jesús Navas (c)
CB12France Jules Koundé
CB20Brazil Diego CarlosYellow card 4'downward-facing red arrow 86'
LB23Spain Sergio Reguilón
RM24Spain Joan Jordán
CM25Brazil Fernando
LM10Argentina Éver BanegaYellow card 45'
RF5Argentina Lucas Ocamposdownward-facing red arrow 71'
CF19Netherlands Luuk de Jongdownward-facing red arrow 85'
LF41Spain Susodownward-facing red arrow 77'
Substitutes:
GK1Czech Republic Tomáš Vaclík
GK31Spain Javi Díaz
DF3Spain Sergi Gómez
DF18Spain Sergio Escudero
DF36Spain Genaro Rodríguez
DF40Spain Pablo Pérez
MF17Serbia Nemanja Gudeljupward-facing green arrow 86'
MF21Spain Óliver Torres
MF22Argentina Franco Vázquezupward-facing green arrow 77'
FW11Spain Munirupward-facing green arrow 71'
FW28Spain José Lara
FW51Morocco Youssef En-Nesyriupward-facing green arrow 85'
Manager:
Spain Julen Lopetegui
GK1Slovenia Samir Handanović (c)
CB2Uruguay Diego Godíndownward-facing red arrow 90'
CB6Netherlands Stefan de Vrij
CB95Italy Alessandro BastoniYellow card 55'
RM33Italy Danilo D'Ambrosiodownward-facing red arrow 78'
CM23Italy Nicolò BarellaYellow card 41'
CM77Croatia Marcelo Brozović
CM5Italy Roberto GagliardiniYellow card 73'downward-facing red arrow 78'
LM15England Ashley Young
CF9Belgium Romelu Lukaku
CF10Argentina Lautaro Martínezdownward-facing red arrow 78'
Substitutes:
GK27Italy Daniele Padelli
DF13Italy Andrea Ranocchia
DF31Italy Lorenzo Pirola
DF34Italy Cristiano Biraghi
DF37Slovakia Milan Škriniar
MF11Nigeria Victor Mosesupward-facing green arrow 78'
MF12Italy Stefano Sensi
MF20Spain Borja Valero
MF24Denmark Christian Eriksenupward-facing green arrow 78'
MF87Italy Antonio Candrevaupward-facing green arrow 90'
FW7Chile Alexis Sánchezupward-facing green arrow 78'
FW30Italy Sebastiano Esposito
Manager:
Italy Antonio ConteYellow card 18'

Man of the Match:
Luuk de Jong (Sevilla)[1]

Assistant referees:[2]
Mario Diks (Netherlands)
Hessel Steegstra (Netherlands)
Fourth official:[2]
Anastasios Sidiropoulos (Greece)
Video assistant referee:[2]
Jochem Kamphuis (Netherlands)
Assistant video assistant referees:[2]
Kevin Blom (Netherlands)
Paweł Gil (Poland)
Offside video assistant referee:[2]
Paweł Sokolnicki (Poland)

Match rules[13]

  • 90 minutes
  • 30 minutes of extra time if necessary
  • Penalty shoot-out if scores still level
  • Twelve named substitutes
  • Maximum of five substitutions, with a sixth allowed in extra time[note 2]

Statistics

See also

Notes
  1. The remainder of the competition, held in August 2020, was played behind closed doors due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Europe.[5]
  2. Each team was only given three opportunities to make substitutions, with a fourth opportunity in extra time, excluding substitutions made at half-time, before the start of extra time and at half-time in extra time.

References
  1. "Sevilla 3–2 Inter: Sevilla win the Europa League!". UEFA.com. Union of European Football Associations. 21 August 2020. Retrieved 21 August 2020.
  2. "Referee team appointed for UEFA Europa League final". UEFA.com. Union of European Football Associations. 18 August 2020. Retrieved 18 August 2020.
  3. "Full Time Summary Final – Sevilla v Inter Milan" (PDF). UEFA.com. Union of European Football Associations. 21 August 2020. Retrieved 21 August 2020.
  4. "Tactical Lineups – Final – Friday 21 August 2020" (PDF). UEFA.com. Union of European Football Associations. 21 August 2020. Retrieved 21 August 2020.
  5. "Venues for Round of 16 matches confirmed". UEFA.com. Union of European Football Associations. 9 July 2020. Retrieved 10 July 2020.
  6. "Seville to host 2021 UEFA Europa League final". UEFA.com. Union of European Football Associations. 24 September 2019. Retrieved 28 September 2019.
  7. "UEFA Club Finals postponed". UEFA.com. Union of European Football Associations. 23 March 2020. Retrieved 23 March 2020.
  8. "UEFA competitions to resume in August". UEFA.com. Union of European Football Associations. 17 June 2020. Retrieved 17 June 2020.
  9. "Champions League and Europa League changes next season". UEFA.com. Union of European Football Associations. 27 February 2018. Retrieved 27 February 2018.
  10. Stokkermans, Karel (28 February 2019). "UEFA Cup". RSSSF. Retrieved 17 August 2020.
  11. "2020 Gdańsk UEFA Europa League final identity unveiled". UEFA.com. 30 August 2019.
  12. "Sorteggi Europa League: la Roma trova il Moenchengladbach, Rennes e Celtic per la Lazio" (in Italian). Corriere dello Sport – Stadio. 30 August 2019. Retrieved 3 June 2020.
  13. "Regulations of the UEFA Europa League: 2019/20 Season" (PDF). UEFA.com. Union of European Football Associations. 2020. Archived from the original on 21 August 2020. Retrieved 21 August 2020.
  14. "Team statistics" (PDF). UEFA.com. Union of European Football Associations. 21 August 2020. Retrieved 21 August 2020.
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