After 120 minutes couldn't separate Manchester United and Villarreal, it took 22 penalties and a miss from one of the goalkeepers (David de Gea) saw Villarreal beat Manchester United in the final of the 2021 UEFA Europa League (UEL).
Here are the best stats from Wednesday night.
1
This was Villarreal's first major title -- and third overall after winning the now-extinct UEFA Intertoto Cup in 2003 and 2004.
1
Yeremi Pino started for Villarreal aged 18 years and 218 days. In doing so, he became the youngest-ever Spanish player to start a major European final. The previous record had been held by the great Iker Casillas (He was 19 years and 4 days old when he played in the 2000 Champions League final).
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At the other end of the experience spectrum, Edinson Cavani became the third player aged 34 or above to score in a major European final for an English club, after Gary McAllister (36) for Liverpool in the UEFA Cup final in 2000-01 and Didier Drogba (34) for Chelsea in the Champions League final in 2011-12.
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This is the Unai Emery league! Emery has become the first manager to win the UEFA Cup/Europa League four times (thrice with Sevilla -- 2013-14, 2014-15, 2015-16 & now with Villarreal 2020-21), surpassing Giovanni Trapattoni.
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Manchester United, meanwhile, are on a rather barren run. It is now 4 straight seasons without a title, the longest they have gone without winning silverware since going 5 seasons without a title from 1977-78 to 1981-82.
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Manchester United have lost six of their last seven penalty shootouts in all competitions, beating only Rochdale in a third round League Cup tie in September 2019 during this period.
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Villarreal were invincible this UEL season. They have become the seventh side to lift either the UEL or it's previous iteration, the UEFA Cup, without a single defeat, after Tottenham in 1971-72, Borussia Monchengladbach in 1978-79, Goteborg in 1981-82 & 1986-87, Ajax in 1991-92 and Chelsea in 2018-19.
7
Villarreal striker Gerard Moreno tied Pizzi (Benfica), Borja Mayoral (Roma) and Yusuf Yazici (Lille) for most goals this UEL season (7) [From the group Stage to the final]. In the process, he also tied for the most goal involvements (10), with Arsenal's Nicolas Pepe.
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Spain have a stranglehold over England at the highest echelons of European football at the moment. When facing an English side in a European competition final (incl. Super Cups), Spanish sides have taken home the trophy in the last 10 such finals, with Manchester United accounting for four of those defeats (2009 & 2011 Champions League, 2017 Super Cup, 2021 Europa League).
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This was the longest penalty shootout in the history of a final of a major European competition (22 taken, 21 scored). The previous record was 14 (2008 UCL, Manchester United 6 - 5 Chelsea and 2001 UCL Bayern Munich 5 - 4 Valencia). In fact, in major European competition history, there have been only 5 shootouts to go past 10 kicks.
30
More Moreno magic Gerard Moreno is the first player to score 30+ goals for Villarreal in a single season in all competitions since -- and Manchester United fans may recognise this name -- Giuseppe Rossi in 2010-11 (32).
(Stats courtesy ESPN's Stats & Information Group)