Villarreal champion: Carlos Bacca wins his third Europa League

Carlos Bacca is the Colombian who has lifted the Europa League trophy the most times, previously known as the UEFA Cup, beating Falcao García, Luis Amaranto Perea and Faustino Asprilla. The forward, winner of this competition with Sevilla in the 2013/14 and 2014/15 seasons, was a starter in Villarreal’s 11-10 penalty shootout victory over Manchester United in the grand final in Gdansk, Poland, where there was a one-on-one in regulation time.

The ball still, the weapon of Villarreal

Manchester owned the ball for most of the first half and generated some options in front of a folded Villarreal, betting on the defensive order and trying to create danger through counterattack or set pieces.

The opening of the scoreboard came down this last path at minute 29, with a free kick from the side executed by Dani Parejo to the inside edge definition from Gerard Moreno, who beat Luke Shaw’s back. Minutes earlier, the Yellow Submarine had approached with a genius of Bacca: rabona center and high header by Pau Torres.

Chance for Bacca and United draw

At the start of the complement, the Colombian had an opportunity to extend the advantage. The ball was served to him in the small area, but he could not settle down and Bruno Fernandes just appeared to lock and avoid the second of the Spanish team.

The game for Bacca ended at 60 ‘, when he was replaced by Francis Coquelin in the first modification made by Unai Emery, but the score was already level, as Marcus Rashford took a shot after a clearance on a corner kick, couple of rebounds and the ball was served to Edinson Cavani to send it to the bottom unopposed [55′].

Rulli, the hero in a long penalty shootout

The English club insisted on looking for the second to give them the title and had options with Cavani, Rashford and Pogba, but Villarreal held on, so the final went to overtime, in which the Spanish team had an improvement, but no differences were made.

The Europa League was defined from the white point in a long penalty shootout, in which there was 100% effectiveness until United’s eleventh charge, in which Gerónimo Rulli won the archers duel against David de Gea, to which he had marked in the previous payment.

Bacca’s contribution to the title

The Colombian registered nine appearances in this edition of the Europa League and scored three goals, all in the group stage, in the triumphs over Sivasspor (5-3) and Maccabi Tel Aviv (4-0, double). In addition, he gave two assists in the two commitments against the Israeli team, both finished by Álex Baena.

Games played: 9
Starting matches: 7
Minutes: 495
Goals: 3
Assists: 2
Goal average: 0.3
One goal each: 165 minutes