Villarreal and Manchester United will play in Gdansk to be the UEFA Europa League champion. It will be a duel between scorers, Gerard Moreno Y Paco Alcacer versus Bruno fernandes Y Cavani. Goals in the finals are a precious commodity and whoever scores first, statistics say they will have a great chance of taking the Cup to their showcases.
Of the 23 previous Europa Legue finals, and the only match of its predecessor UEFA Cup in 17 of them, the team that opened the scoring, has finally been the champion. The percentage is 74%. Only in two editions did the game end as it started, 0-0, and the title had to be settled on penalties. They were in the editions of 2013-14, with the triumph of Seville, Y 1999-2000, with victory of Galatasaray. The other final that was decided in the penalty shootout was 2006-07 in which, after drawing two, Sevilla defeated Espanyol.
The Seville it is the team that has come back the most times in the finals. Of the four editions in which the team that scored first and did not end up lifting the Cup, three were played by Sevilla and were the champion. They were in 2019-20, against Inter Milan, 2015-16, against Liverpool, and in 2014-15, against Dnipro. The other final in which there was a comeback was in CSKA Moscow’s victory over Sporting Portugal in 2004-05.
In addition to the three finals that ended on penalties, another four went to extra time.
In eight finals, the team that scored first, left its rival to zero and the name of the winner never moved. The last time was in the triumph of Atlético de Madrid in 2018-169 against Olympique de Marseille.
For Villarreal to score first, the main bookmakers pay a 6.5 fee.
