Europa League winner will be without trophies in the spring, Sevilla failed to beat Lens and finish last

In Group A, the only interesting match was between Lens and Sevilla, where the third place was at stake. The Andalusians failed to win the Europa League, losing 1: 2 and will be without European Cups in the spring.

Last year’s Europa League winners are in unexpected trouble again. Sevilla are only 15th in La Liga and were last in the Champions League group before their last match.

Before the last game, Sevilla have only one option left. To fight for third place and therefore “their” Europa League. To do that, it needed to beat Lens on its own ground.

But coach Diego Alonso had to fight an extreme illness. He couldn’t count on Navas, Ocampos, Suso, Nianzou, Lukebak, Jordan, Fernando, Mariano, Bado or Acuna. So mostly starting lineup players.

But the Andalusians started briskly anyway, already in the 7th minute they had a chance for an indirect free kick in the Lens’ penalty area. However, they missed the chance. After half an hour of play, Sevilla had another big chance. Rakitic got to a loose ball on the edge of the box, but his shot was deflected under the crossbar by Brice Samba.

Lens punished Sevilla’s missed chances in the second half. In the 60th minute, Boubakary Soumaré created a somewhat controversial penalty and Przemyslaw Frankovski sent the home side into the lead.

But it didn’t last long, as 15 minutes later Sevilla also had a penalty. Although Sergio Ramos missed it the first time, the referee allowed it to be replayed and the Spanish legend was successful the second time.

In the 94th minute, Ramos could have been the hero. He got to a deflected ball in the whitewash, but sent the ball high over the bar in a great chance. In the sixth minute of stoppage time, after a quick break, Lens scored the winning goal to seal third place and thus the Europa League.

Source: UEFA