Europa League 2015 Final Preview: Dnipro vs Sevilla

The 44th edition of the Europe’s secondary club football tournament and the 6th edition of the Europa League, this edition’s finals would be played between  the Ukrainian side Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk and the Spanish side Sevilla at the Stadion Narodowy in Warsaw, Poland on the 27th of May,2015. The match would be refereed by English official Martin Atkinson.

While the Spanish side would try to keep their glory to themselves for the 2nd time in a row, the Ukrainians won’t be a walk in the park for them. While a war rages on at their home, they are strong and determined to give their all in their first ever finals, and the second time against a Spanish club, last being back in 2005. They haven’t made their path easy, having 6 wins since the group stage, but grit has shown them here. By scoring an overall of just 13 goals, and not having more than a single goal lead win (except for the win against Olympiakos),  the team has proven their defense to be superior to most teams. By disappointing goliaths at every step of the tournament they knocked out Olympiakos, Ajax, Club Brugge and Napoli at the consecutive stages in the same order. For a team who had to shift their matches to Kiev because their town wasn’t safe enough, they play so that their people find inspiration from their victory. If not their name or fluidic play, their determination might just be enough to intimidate any opponent who faces against them.

Sevilla FC, on the other hand, haven’t seen a loss yet at the finals of the tournament. Winning each of the three editions, back in 2006, 2007 and more recently last year in 2014. Having an unbeatable 10 match streak in the competition, their last loss being against Feyenoord in the group stage, they have seen away with Borrusia Monchengladbach, Villareal, Zenit Saint Petersburg and Fiorentina to reach to the finals, defeating them at the knockouts in the given order. If they win this edition, they would be the only team to win it 4 times, with Inter, Juventus and Liverpool having won it 3 times each. They are the predicted winners, though one never knows what may happen, for this is football.

This is more than just a final for both these teams. While one seeks to place their names in the record books of the Europa League, the other fights for it’s own predicament, it’s own internal battle. It may end up in a battle of sweat, but we hope the glory resides with the team which would deserve the victory.