 Match programme cover | |||||||
| Event | 2020–21 UEFA Europa League | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| |||||||
| Afterextra time Villarreal won 11–10 onpenalties | |||||||
| Date | 26 May 2021 (2021-05-26) | ||||||
| Venue | Stadion Gdańsk,Gdańsk | ||||||
| Man of the Match | Étienne Capoue (Villarreal)[1] | ||||||
| Referee | Clément Turpin (France)[2] | ||||||
| Attendance | 9,412[3] | ||||||
| Weather | Partly cloudy night 11 °C (52 °F) 45%humidity[4] | ||||||
←2020 2022 → | |||||||
The2021 UEFA Europa League final was the final match of the2020–21 UEFA Europa League, the 50th season ofEurope's secondary clubfootball tournament organised byUEFA, and the 12th season since it was renamed from the UEFA Cup to theUEFA Europa League. It was played on 26 May 2021 at theStadion Gdańsk inGdańsk, Poland, between Spanish clubVillarreal and English clubManchester United.
The final was originally scheduled to be played at theEstadio Ramón Sánchez Pizjuán inSeville, Spain. However, due to the postponement and relocation of the2020 final to Cologne, the final hosts were shifted back a year, with Gdańsk instead hosting the 2021 final, as a result of theCOVID-19 pandemic in Europe.[5]
Villarreal won the match 11–10 on penalties following a 1–1 draw afterextra time, thus winning its first trophy in the competition.[6] As winners, Villarreal earned the right to play against the winners of the2020–21 UEFA Champions League,Chelsea, in the2021 UEFA Super Cup. They also qualified for the group stage of the2021–22 UEFA Champions League.[7]
The match was played at theStadion Gdańsk inGdańsk, Poland. At the meeting of the UEFA Executive Committee in Kyiv in May 2018, the stadium was initially selected to host the2020 UEFA Europa League Final,[8] but when the COVID-19 pandemic forced UEFA to move the latter stages of the2019–20 competition to Germany, the UEFA Executive Committee delayedGdańsk Stadium's hosting of the Europa League final to 2021. The original venues for the 2021 and2022 finals were also delayed by a year.[9]
This was the first UEFA club match hosted at the stadium, which was one of the venues forUEFA Euro 2012.[10] It was the second UEFA club competition final to be played in Poland, as the2015 UEFA Europa League Final was played at theNational Stadium inWarsaw. When the stadium was selected to host the 2020 final, it was known as Stadion Energa Gdańsk, so due to UEFA sponsorship regulations, marketing materials for the match referred to the venue as Gdańsk Stadium.[11] Although the sponsorship deal with Energa was ended in November 2020, the stadium continued to be known as Gdańsk Stadium for the final.[10]
An open bidding process was launched on 22 September 2017 by UEFA to select the venues of the finals of the UEFA Champions League, UEFA Europa League, and UEFA Women's Champions League in 2020. Associations had until 31 October 2017 to express interest, and bid dossiers had to be submitted by 1 March 2018. Associations hosting matches atUEFA Euro 2020 were not allowed to bid for the 2020 UEFA Europa League final.
UEFA announced on 3 November 2017 that two associations had expressed interest in hosting the 2020 UEFA Europa League final.[12]
| Association | Stadium | City | Capacity | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 Poland | Stadion Gdańsk | Gdańsk | 43,615 | |
 Portugal | Estádio do Dragão | Porto | 50,035 | Also bid for2020 UEFA Super Cup |
TheStadion Gdańsk in Gdańsk was selected by the UEFA Executive Committee during their meeting inKyiv on 24 May 2018.[13][11]
On 17 June 2020, the UEFA Executive Committee announced that due to the postponement and relocation of the2020 final, Gdańsk would instead host the 2021 final.[5]
This was Villarreal's fourth ever final in an officialknockout tournament, having played previously three inUEFA competitions, all in theUEFA Intertoto Cup, winning it in2003 and2004.[14][15][16][17] On the other hand, this was head coachUnai Emery's fifth European final, all in the UEFA Europa League; he won three successive titles withSevilla in2014,2015 and2016, before losing in2019 withArsenal.[18]
This was Manchester United's second UEFA Cup/Europa League final, having won the only previous occasion in2017. Overall, it was their eighth European major final between the European Cup/Champions League, Cup Winners' Cup, and the UEFA Cup/Europa League.Ole Gunnar Solskjær reached his first final as the club's manager, having scored the winning goal in the1999 UEFA Champions League Final playing for them, exactly 22 years prior.[19]
The clubs previously met four times, in the2005–06 and2008–09 UEFA Champions League group stages. All games ended in goalless draws.[20][21]
In the following table, finals until 2009 were in the UEFA Cup era, since 2010 were in the UEFA Europa League era.
| Team | Previous final appearances (bold indicates winners) |
|---|---|
 Villarreal | None |
 Manchester United | 1 (2017) |
Note: In all results below, the score of the finalist is given first (H: home; A: away).
| Villarreal | Round | Manchester United | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Europa League | Champions League | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Opponent | Result | Group stage (EL,CL) | Opponent | Result | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
 Sivasspor | 5–3 (H) | Matchday 1 |  Paris Saint-Germain | 2–1 (A) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
 Qarabağ | 3–1 (A)[a] | Matchday 2 |  RB Leipzig | 5–0 (H) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
 Maccabi Tel Aviv | 4–0 (H) | Matchday 3 | İstanbul Başakşehir | 1–2 (A) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Maccabi Tel Aviv | 1–1 (A) | Matchday 4 | İstanbul Başakşehir | 4–1 (H) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sivasspor | 1–0 (A) | Matchday 5 | Paris Saint-Germain | 1–3 (H) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Qarabağ | 3–0 (H)[b] | Matchday 6 | RB Leipzig | 2–3 (A) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Group I winners | Final standings | Group H third place
Source:UEFA | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Europa League | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Opponent | Agg. | 1st leg | 2nd leg | Knockout phase | Opponent | Agg. | 1st leg | 2nd leg | ||||||||||||||||||||
 Red Bull Salzburg | 4–1 | 2–0 (A) | 2–1 (H) | Round of 32 | Real Sociedad | 4–0 | 4–0 (A)[c] | 0–0 (H) | ||||||||||||||||||||
 Dynamo Kyiv | 4–0 | 2–0 (A) | 2–0 (H) | Round of 16 |  Milan | 2–1 | 1–1 (H) | 1–0 (A) | ||||||||||||||||||||
 Dinamo Zagreb | 3–1 | 1–0 (A) | 2–1 (H) | Quarter-finals | Granada | 4–0 | 2–0 (A) | 2–0 (H) | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Arsenal | 2–1 | 2–1 (H) | 0–0 (A) | Semi-finals | Roma | 8–5 | 6–2 (H) | 2–3 (A) | ||||||||||||||||||||
Notes
.jpg)
On 12 May 2021, UEFA named FrenchmanClément Turpin as the referee for the final. Turpin had been aFIFA referee since 2010, and was previously the fourth official in the2018 UEFA Champions League Final. He officiated six matches in the 2020–21 Champions League season, and one leg in the 2020–21 Europa League round of 32. He served as a referee atUEFA Euro 2016 in France and the2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia, and was selected as an official forUEFA Euro 2020. Turpin also was a video assistant referee at the2017 FIFA Confederations Cup in Russia (including in thefinal), the2017 FIFA Club World Cup in the United Arab Emirates and the2019 FIFA Women's World Cup in France. He was joined by five of his fellow countrymen, with Nicolas Danos and Cyril Gringore as assistant referees,François Letexier as the video assistant referee, andJérôme Brisard and Benjamin Pagès as two of the assistant VAR officials.Slavko Vinčić of Slovenia was the fourth official, while DutchmanPol van Boekel served as the remaining assistant VAR.[2]
Villarreal opened the scoring in the 29th minute with a goal fromGerard Moreno, diverting the ball into the net with his right leg from six yards out after a free-kick from the left side delivered byDani Parejo.Edinson Cavani equalized in the 55th minute after a shot byMarcus Rashford from 20 yards deflected off ofScott McTominay to Cavani, who scored with a low shot from five yards out.[25]There were no more goals in normal time or in extra time with the match going to apenalty shoot-out. The first ten penalties from both teams were converted, leaving the goalkeepers to take a penalty. Villarreal keeperGerónimo Rulli converted his penalty, and then savedDavid de Gea's attempt to his left, winning his side the trophy.[26]
The "home" team (for administrative purposes) was determined by an additional draw to be held after the quarter-final and semi-final draws.
| Villarreal | 1–1 (a.e.t.) | Manchester United |
|---|---|---|
| Report |
|
| Penalties | ||
| 11–10 | ||
         Villarreal[4] |      Manchester United[4] |
|  |
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Man of the Match: Assistant referees:[2] |
|
|
|
|
|
| Teams | |
|---|---|
| Home stadium | |
| Training ground | |
| Rivalries | |
| Seasons | |
| Matches | |
| Related articles | |
