Uefa Europa League
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UEFA EUROPA LEAGUE - 2019/20 SEASON MATCH PRESS KITS Stadion Köln - Cologne Friday 21 August 2020 21.00CET (21.00 local time) Sevilla FC Matchday 13 - Final FC Internazionale Milano Last updated 21/08/2020 12:03CET Match background 2 Legend 6 1 Sevilla FC - FC Internazionale Milano Friday 21 August 2020 - 21.00CET (21.00 local time) Match press kit Stadion Köln, Cologne Match background Two clubs boasting exceptional pedigree in this competition come together in Cologne for the 2019/20 UEFA Europa League final, with Sevilla bidding to lift the trophy for a record-extending sixth time and Internazionale for the fourth. It is the teams' first meeting in UEFA competition. • While Sevilla have won the UEFA Europa League three times and the UEFA Cup twice, Inter are three-time UEFA Cup winners. The Nerazzurri are the first Italian club to reach the UEFA Europa League final. • Sevilla coasted through Group A last autumn, winning their first five matches before signing off with a defeat at fellow qualifiers APOEL. They found the going tougher in the round of 32, needing the away goals rule to get past CFR Cluj (1-1 a, 0-0 h), but rediscovered their best form this month by beating Roma 2-0 in their single-leg round of 16 tie and Wolverhampton Wanderers 1-0 in the quarter-final before coming from behind to oust Manchester United with a 2-1 triumph in the semi-final thanks to goals from Suso and substitute Luuk de Jong. • Inter entered the UEFA Europa League in the spring after failing to negotiate a way through their UEFA Champions League section, finishing third behind Barcelona and Borussia Dortmund. They cruised past Ludogorets in the round of 32 (2-0 a, 2-1 h) before overcoming Getafe 2-0 in a single-leg round of 16 encounter in Gelsenkirchen; they then beat Bayer Leverkusen 2-1 and Shakhtar Donetsk 5-0, both in Düsseldorf, the latter in the semi-final with Lautaro Martínez and Romelu Lukaku each scoring twice. Previous meetings • While Sevilla have never faced Inter, they have met seven other Italian clubs, including the Nerazzurri's city rivals AC Milan, who beat them 3-1 in Monaco in the 2007 UEFA Super Cup – the Andalusian side's only single-leg European fixture against Serie A opposition until this season's round of 16 win against Roma. • Sevilla's record overall against Italian clubs is W6 D2 L5, the balance tipping in their favour with that recent victory against Roma. They have been victorious in all three of their UEFA Europa League knockout ties against teams from Italy, keeping clean sheets in all five matches – against Fiorentina in the 2014/15 semi-finals (3-0 h, 2-0 a) and Lazio in last season's round of 32 (1-0 a, 2-0 h) before the 2-0 success against Roma. • Inter have a wealth of experience against Spanish opposition, although they have won just 14 of their 43 matches and lost 18, including both games against Barcelona in this season's UEFA Champions League (1-2 a, 1-2 h). • Inter have faced Spanish clubs on neutral terrain three times previously, beating Real Madrid 3-1 in Vienna to win the 1964 European Cup final – their maiden encounter with Spanish opposition – and losing 2-0 to Atlético de Madrid in Monaco in the 2010 UEFA Super Cup, before getting the better of Getafe in Gelsenkirchen earlier this month. That victory ended the Milanese club's six-match winless run against Spanish opponents (D1 L5). Form guide Sevilla • Sevilla played 16 UEFA Europa League matches last season, progressing from the second qualifying round to the round of 16, where they were dramatically eliminated by Slavia Praha after an extra-time defeat in the Czech capital. The Andalusian club re-qualified for this competition by finishing sixth in the 2018/19 Liga, which secured an automatic group stage berth. • The three-time UEFA Europa League winners have never failed to progress from their group, making it five qualifications out of five this term and doing so as group winners for the third time. They defeated both Qarabağ and Dudelange home and away and also won 1-0 at home to APOEL before ending the section with a defeat by the same scoreline in Cyprus – their only loss in Europe this term. Sevilla's final tally of 15 points was the most of any team in this season's group stage. • Sevilla have reached the UEFA Europa League final for a record fourth time – and won the previous three, defeating Benfica 4-2 on penalties after a 0-0 draw in Turin in 2014, Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk 3-2 in Warsaw a year later and, to complete the hat-trick, Liverpool 3-1 in Basel in 2016. Despite their successes they have yet to open the scoring in a UEFA Europa League final, having to come from behind against both Dnipro and Liverpool. • Sevilla's two appearances in the UEFA Cup final also ended in victory, 4-0 against Middlesbrough in Eindhoven in 2006 and 3-1 on penalties after a 2-2 draw against fellow Spaniards Espanyol in Glasgow 12 months later. • Sevilla's record on German soil in UEFA competition is now W9 D1 L3, all of those matches bar the three recent wins against Roma and Wolves (both in Duisburg) and Manchester United (in Cologne) having been played against German hosts. Internazionale • Fourth in Serie A in 2018/19, Inter's European campaign ended with defeat by Eintracht Frankfurt in the UEFA 2 Sevilla FC - FC Internazionale Milano Friday 21 August 2020 - 21.00CET (21.00 local time) Match press kit Stadion Köln, Cologne Europa League round of 16 after they had finished third in their UEFA Champions League section behind Barcelona and Tottenham Hotspur – the first time the Nerazzurri had failed to progress from their group in nine UEFA Champions League campaigns. • History repeated itself this season as Inter could only manage another third place in their UEFA Champions League group, a closing home defeat to Barcelona scuppering their chances and leaving them with seven points – one fewer than in the previous campaign. • Victory over Ludogorets took Inter into the UEFA Europa League round of 16 for the fourth time, and the win against Getafe ended a run of three straight eliminations at that stage of the competition. • This may be Inter's first UEFA Europa League final but they reached four UEFA Cup finals, all in the 1990s, winning three – in 1990/91 against Roma (2-0 h, 0-1 a), 1993/94 against Salzburg (1-0 a, 1-0 h) and 1997/98 against Lazio (3- 0 in Paris). They lost the 1996/97 final against Schalke on penalties (0-1 a, 1-0 h). • Inter have also reached five European Cup finals, winning three including the most recent, in 2010, when they overcame Bayern München 2-0 in Madrid. • Inter have won only five of their 20 UEFA competition matches away to German clubs (D8 L7), but their three UEFA Europa League matches in Germany this month against Getafe, Leverkusen and Shakhtar have all ended in victory. • Inter's current sequence of five successive victories amounts to their longest winning run in the UEFA Europa League, group stage to final. Previous UEFA finals Sevilla (W6 L4) 2005/06 UEFA Cup 4-0 v Middlesbrough 2006 UEFA Super Cup 3-0 v Barcelona 2006/07 UEFA Cup 2-2 aet v Espanyol (3-1 penalties) 2007 UEFA Super Cup 1-3 v AC Milan 2013/14 UEFA Europa League 0-0 v Benfica (aet, 4-2 penalties) 2014 UEFA Super Cup 0-2 v Real Madrid 2014/15 UEFA Europa League 3-2 v Dnipro 2015 UEFA Super Cup 4-5 v Barcelona (aet) 2015/16 UEFA Europa League 3-1 v Liverpool 2016 UEFA Super Cup 2-3 v Real Madrid (aet) Internazionale (W8 L4) 1963/64 European Cup 3-1 v Real Madrid 1964 European/South American Cup 2-1 agg, 1-0 replay aet v Independiente 1964/65 European Cup 1-0 v Benfica 1965 European/South American Cup 3-0 agg v Independiente 1966/67 European Cup 1-2 v Celtic 1971/72 European Cup 0-2 v Ajax 1990/91 UEFA Cup 2-1 agg v Roma 1993/94 UEFA Cup 2-0 agg v Salzburg 1996/97 UEFA Cup 1-1 agg v Schalke (1-4 on penalties) 1997/98 UEFA Cup 3-0 v Lazio 2009/10 UEFA Champions League 2-0 v Bayern München 2010 UEFA Super Cup 0-2 v Atlético de Madrid Final focus • This is the 11th UEFA Europa League final. The previous ten have yielded 29 goals at an average of 2.9 per game. The biggest winning margin is three goals – 4-1 by Chelsea against Arsenal in 2018/19 and 3-0 achieved twice by Atlético de Madrid, against Athletic Club (2012) and Marseille (2018). The highest number of goals scored in the final is five – Sevilla's 3-2 victory over Dnipro in 2015, then last season's 4-1 win for Chelsea. • Atlético and Sevilla have both won all three of their UEFA Europa League finals, sharing the record number of victories. Sevilla are making a record fourth appearance in the final. • There have been seven previous UEFA Europa League finalists from Spain, including runners-up Athletic in 2012, but Inter are the first from Italy. • Inter are the 15th different club to have reached the UEFA Europa League final – and would be just the sixth to win the competition.