Against the backdrop of a conflict tearing its country apart, Ukrainian club Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk is aiming for success in the Europa league final. Dnipro, which has reached the final without playing a single game at its own stadium, will face Spanish club Sevilla on Wednesday in Warsaw. The winner will earn a place in next year’s Champions league, providing added motivation to win UEFA’s second-tier event.
Sevilla is chasing a record fourth title in the competition, and goes into the match as the clear favorite. If Sevilla wins, it will become the first team to twice win back-to-back titles in the competition’s history.
SUCCESS IN WARTIME
Dnipro is based in Dnipropetrovsk, a city in the eastern half of Ukraine but far from the conflict zone which has made several other Ukrainian teams homeless.
Even so, UEFA security restrictions meant European games could not be played there this season, forcing Dnipro to move to Kiev. That, however, has not stopped Dnipro from knocking out a pair of former champions: Ajax and Napoli.
ROCKY FORM
Dnipro heads to Warsaw on the back of some very mixed recent form. Two losses in its last three league games ended a bid to qualify for the Champions league, while Shakhtar knocked Dnipro out of the Ukrainian Cup in the semifinals.
A win on Wednesday would make Dnipro only the third Ukrainian club to win a major continental title.
MOTIVATED SEVIllA
Sevilla midfielder Grzegorz Krychowiak, who is Polish, will get an added boost by playing the final in Warsaw. Sevilla won the Europa league in 2006, 2007 and last season.
“We’re living through some very wonderful moments,” Sevilla coach Unai Emery said. “We need to live Wednesday’s match with intensity and as something unique.”