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Sevilla shatter Valencia with injury-time goal to reach final Sevilla's Stéphane Mbia shatters Valencia with injury-time goal
(35 minutes later)
Stéphane Mbia scored in the fourth minute of stoppage time to take Sevilla to the Europa League final despite a 3-1 defeat at Valencia. Sevilla snatched a place in the Europa League final when a 94th-minute Stéphane Mbia header put them through on away goals after their semi-final tie against Valencia ended 3-3 on aggregate.
Valencia looked set to play in the 14 May final in Turin until Mbia's late header secured Sevilla's place on away goals, after the two-leg semifinal ended 3-3. Despite going down 3-1 at Valencia's Mestalla stadium, Mbia's late goal set up a final with Benfica on 14 May after the Portuguese club eliminated Juventus 2-1 on aggregate following a 0-0 draw in Turin.
Sevilla face Benfica in the final after the Portuguese drew 0-0 at Juventus to advance 2-1 on aggregate. Sevilla were favourites to advance against their La Liga rivals after winning last week's first leg 2-0 at home but a 14th-minute Sofiane Feghouli strike, an own goal from goalkeeper Beto in the 26th and a Jérémy Mathieu effort 21 minutes from time put Valencia 3-0 ahead on the night and 3-2 ahead overall.
Sofiane Feghouli and Jonas scored first-half goals for Valencia to level the tie before Jérémy Mathieu's 70th-minute goal seemed enough for the hosts at the Mestalla. They were just over a minute away from going through to the final when Federico Fazio flicked on a long throw and Mbia, who scored Sevilla's opening goal in the first leg, rose to crash a header into the net and silence the Valencia fans.
A frantic finish to the game ended with players from both teams in tears. Sevilla return to the final for the first time since winning a second Cup in a row in 2007. It was a triumph for the Sevilla coach, Unai Emery, who never completely won over the Valencia fans when he was in charge there from 2008 to 2012, and he celebrated Mbia's goal wildly on the side of the pitch.
"This is a unique experience," Emery said in an interview with Spanish television.
"We don't care who we are playing in the final, we just have to enjoy this."
"Now we have to beat a great team (Benfica) because they have beaten Juve, who are also a great club." Valencia made an energetic start in front of their vociferous supporters while Sevilla had clearly opted to play a more patient game and wait for a chance on the break.
The home side forced themselves back into the tie when Feghouli received the ball inside the area and cut inside his marker and his left-foot strike took a slight deflection off a defender on its way into the net.
Valencia were level on aggregate in the 26th minute when Jonas made the most of slack marking to send a powerful header towards goal from a Juan Bernat centre.
Beto could only palm the ball on to the underside of the crossbar and then watch helplessly as it bounced off his back and into the net for what UEFA ruled was an own goal by the Sevilla goalkeeper.
The visitors managed to survive the early onslaught without conceding again and came close to a goal in the 36th when José Antonio Reyes met a clever Carlos Bacca backheel at the far post but his close-range effort was blocked superbly by the Valencia keeper Diego Alves.
Both sides showed attacking intent in the early stages of the second half before defender Mathieu was quickest to react when the ball ran loose at a corner and the Frenchman left Beto no chance with a powerful shot.
Valencia were moments away from going through when Mbia struck to keep alive Sevilla's chances of repeating their successes in Europe's second-tier club competition from 2006 and 2007, when it was known as the UEFA Cup.
Juve, Internazionale and Liverpool are the only three sides to have won the UEFA Cup/Europa League three times.