Sevilla wins Europa League after defeating Benfica on penalties

The curse is real, and it is very much alive.

Benfica simply cannot vanquish the ghost of former manager Bela Guttmann, losing their eighth consecutive European final on Wednesday at the Juventus Stadium, this time falling to Sevilla.

The Spanish club captured the Europa League title with a 4-2 victory on penalties, after 120 minutes of open play ended goalless. In doing so, they become the fourth team to win the UEFA Cup/Europa League three times, joining Juventus, Inter, and Liverpool.

[Courtesy: Sportsnet]

The Portuguese side had lost seven consecutive European finals heading into Wednesday's match, a streak that many superstitious fans attributed to a promise made by Guttmann when he left the club in acrimonious fashion after leading them to European Cup glory in 1961 and 1962. 

"Benfica will not win another European final without me," he declared upon his departure.

Even in death - Guttmann passed away in 1981 - he continues to be right.

After a tense opening 30 minutes dictated by Sevilla, the match sprung to life late in the first half. The Portuguese side took the ascendancy later on, bombarding the Spanish goal with a flurry of chances, but found themselves unable to beat goalkeeper Beto.

Things continued in the same vein coming out of the interval, as Benfica cut through the Sevilla defense with ease in the early minutes of the second half, and thought they had the opening goal through Brazilian striker Lima.

For two teams that showed a ruthlessness in their respective semifinal ties - Benfica scored twice after creating only two legitimate chances against Juventus, while Sevilla hit three tallies past Valencia - the two sides were surprisingly impotent in front of goal. 

As the match wore on, each team managed to find acres of space behind the opposition defense. The rigid structure each side had early in the contest had disappeared, much to the delight of the neutral fan.

However, the end-to-end action did not result in a goal. In fact, the excitement dissipated late on and the match moved to extra time for the 10th time in the history of the competition.

This was the statistical breakdown after 90 minutes:

Carlos Bacca had the best chance of the extra frame (and the game as a whole, for that matter), taking a sublime ball from Ivan Rakitic - who was the best player on the pitch by some distance - and racing in clean on goal.

But he proceeded to fire his angled drive wide of the far post:

It looked as though some of the players would physically be unable to make it to a penalty shootout, as a host of men were (understandably) struggling with cramps approaching the 120-minute mark.

Sevilla were the last team to win a Europa League final on penalties, defeating Espanyol in 2007.

That was a good omen, as they did not miss any of their attempts, with striker Kevin Gameiro blasting home the winning spot-kick after his goalkeeper Beto stopped both Oscar Cardozo and Rodrigo beforehand - despite the fact that he was clearly off his line before both attempts. (Something that did not go unnoticed on Twitter).

The Frenchman gifted his team the title with this thunderous penalty:

Perhaps we should have expected this all along:

With Real Madrid and city rivals Atletico set to battle for the Champions League title later this month, Spain is assured of having both tournament winners this season.

Viva Espana, indeed.