Sevilla v Roma Betting Tips [31 May 2023]

The Europa League final sees AS Roma looking for a second consecutive European title when they take on six-time winners Sevilla in Budapest. Sevilla are the record-holders in this competition and have been the dominant force over the past decade. An incredible four of their six titles have come in the last 10 years alone with the latest coming in the 2019/20 season. A win for Roma here would be an impressive feat after winning the inaugural Conference League last season. Sevilla are a perfect 6-0 in Europa League finals in their club’s history but are coming up against a manager that holds an unbeaten 5-0 record in European finals in Jose Mourinho.

It’s been a disappointing final few weeks for Roma domestically. They’ve hit a poor run of form that has eliminated them from contention for a top four spot in the Serie A. This means that the only path for Roma into next season’s Champions League is by lifting the Europa League trophy. It hasn’t been ideal preparation for the Italians as their most recent result was a 2-1 away defeat to Fiorentina. The Giallorossi are now on a stretch of only one win over their last nine matches across all competitions. That win came at home against Bayer Leverkusen, who they eliminated in the semi-final to advance to this stage.

Sevilla recovered well after a disastrous first-half of the campaign saw them in relegation zone. Since the World Cup break, Sevilla have been much improved and have managed to climb up to 11th in the La Liga standings. However, trailing the top four by 19 points means they too are looking at a Europa League title as their only pathway into next season’s Champions League. Sevilla are coming off a 2-1 home defeat to Real Madrid, a result which now makes it a run of three games without a victory. The Spanish side overcame Italian giants Juventus in the semi-final of this competition thanks to a 2-1 home win in extra time. They also claimed another big scalp by knocking off Manchester United in the quarter-final.

It’s no secret how Jose Mourinho approaches knockout football and especially finals. Roma will look to keep this one extremely tight at the back, which could see them sacrifice some attacking intent early on. We expect the first 45 minutes to act as the ‘feeling out’ period, similarly to how high-level boxing matches often play out. Additionally, it’s not uncommon for players to feel nerves at this stage, with many often not wanting to make a crucial mistake. At these odds, we think there is a pretty good chance this is scoreless at the break. Our Roma vs Sevilla prediction is for under 0.5 goals to be scored in the first half.