José Mourinho sprung a surprise with his team selection by opting to start with Paulo Dybala, despite the forward missing their previous four games with an ankle injury, and he quickly repaid the coach's faith by helping to create the first chance of the game. The Argentinian slipped in Zeki Çelik, whose low cut-back was fired at goal by Leonardo Spinazzola, drawing a parry from Yassine Bounou.
Dybala's second significant involvement proved more decisive as, in the 35th minute, he darted on to Gianluca Mancini's incisive through ball and calmly slotted his finish across Bounou. Sevilla had shown little to that point but, having come from behind to win the trophy in their last three Europa League finals, they soon looked a different proposition.
Youssef En-Nesyri's glancing effort was dealt with by Rui Patrício before a second header from the Moroccan striker skimmed the roof of the net. The Spanish side went closer still deep into first-half added time when Ivan Rakitić's raking shot cannoned back off the post.
José Luis Mendilibar made a double change at the break, introducing Suso and Erik Lamela to inject more creativity into their play against a Giallorossi outfit that had kept five clean sheets in their previous seven Europa League matches. Roma's reliable defence was soon breached though, 37-year-old Jesús Navas whipping in a right-wing cross that Mancini could only deflect into his own net under pressure from Lucas Ocampos.
Now it was Roma's turn to respond and they so nearly led again. First Bounou denied Tammy Abraham in a goalmouth scramble before Roger Ibañez sliced wide then Abraham's replacement, Andrea Belotti, also failed to hit the target from Lorenzo Pellegrini's clever free-kick. Sevilla, for all their dominance in between, could not fashion a winner inside 90 minutes either with two shots on target from their 16 attempts outlining their lack of a cutting edge.
That trend continued in extra time and though neither goalkeeper was called into action during the additional 30 minutes, penalties were almost avoided when Chris Smalling's looping header struck the bar deep into added time in the second period.
Bounou – a penalty-saving expert and Morocco's match-winner in their World Cup round of 16 triumph on penalties against Spain – lived up to his billing in the shoot-out, saving from Mancini with his legs and touching Ibañez's spot kick on to the post. Gonzalo Montiel, who scored the decisive penalty for Argentina in the World Cup final, had the last word here too, sweeping in a re-taken effort to ensure Sevilla were crowned for a record seventh time.
