Sevilla retained the UEFA Cup today as they defeated fellow La Liga side, Espanyol in penalties. Perhaps weighted down by the pouring rain in Glasgow, this year’s final game dulled in comparison to last year’s 4-0 drubbing of Middlesborough.

The final got off to a great start, however, with Sevilla opening the scoring when their Brazilian striker Adriano broke a challenge and waltzed in, placing perfectly past the stranded Espanyol keeper.

The lead didn’t last long though as Riera scored in the 28th min. for Espanyol, having cut in from the left (after being played in down the line from old Barca play-maker de la Pena). Luckily, the winger’s shot took a deflection past the keeper.

The game then went off the boil–even though Espanyol had a player sent off in the 2nd half! Sevilla surprisingly couldn’t take advantage of the extra man, and both teams looked dull through the rest of full time. Thankfully, the game came back alive in extra-time periods as Fredrick Kanoute put Sevilla in the lead, after guiding the ball past the keeper at the near post. Espanyol was not done, however, as they scored another equalizer to send the game into the penalty shootout.

Sevilla was not to be denied though as their keeper Palop made three saves to bring the cup home 2 years running. With another tournament cup in the trophy case, perhaps Sevilla can sneak in a league cup as they are just 2 pts. off the top (3rd behind Barca and Real) in La Liga.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, May 16th, 2007 at 8:00 pm and is filed under Soccer World, Spain. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.