The Europa League may be the second tier of continental football, but Sevilla FC have certainly gone some way to making this year's tournament especially memorable. Quite an achievement for a team who, in a purely footballing sense, should not be in the tournament at all.
What makes the difference though, is taking your chances, Sevilla FC were given one, and on three occasions since the group stage, basically in every knockout round, they have tried their hardest to get eliminated. And yet, when all seemed lost, when they lost at home to local rivals Betis and had to turn it round on penalties, when they came back from the highly fancied Porto with a deficit only to put on one of the most impressive maulings of the season, and tonight, when fear and poor positioning helped Valencia overhaul the two-goal deficit from the first leg, with the clock showing 94 minutes, there was still enough belief, maybe even arrogance for the side from Andalusia to go through on away goals, meaning that, whilst not officially invited, they are in the final on merit and have the credentials to bring back the trophy.
Valencia did everything right for 94 minutes, they harried and manhandled Sevilla out of the game and showed measured composure in front of goal. Sevilla's talisman, Rakitic, often cut a forlorn figure in the centre of the park, failing to have the impact his side needed of him when Valencia made the scores level in less than half an hour. Only short bursts of play saw the away side looking likely of creating something half decent, yet it seemed that the crowd, in wonderful voice throughout the encounter, made the visitors sloppy in their passing, whether it was the hostile atmosphere or the magnitude of the task, Sevilla were second best for the majority of the encounter.
However, we have been here before. Sevilla never looked like winning, but they never appeared to relinquish their belief, even though clear-cut chances were rarely carved out, they only needed one goal, and that could come from anywhere. Sevilla's manager, Unai Emery, was set to receive a backlash from his own supporters for an uncharacteristic approach to the tie, his tactics prevented Rakitic and the midfield from functioning as it has done in the last two months, handing the momentum to home side, who wasted no time in taking advantage of the opportunity. All that will be forgotten now, whether any will go so far as to call him a tactical genius is quite another matter, but the sneak a goal technique certainly worked in the end.
One must spare a thought for Valencia, going out in that fashion when no doubt fans were already using their smartphones to find flights to Turin is incredibly painful. Especially as they were the better side tonight, and for the first part of the tie in Seville, but they will have watched videos of other encounters and will have known what to expect from Sevilla, and it will hurt even more as the goal came from what is potentially an easy set-piece to defend, a throw-in. All this means Sevilla FC, who you may think are upstarts with no right to be at the party, will certainly be amongst the last to leave when it finishes later this month, maybe even with the cup itself.