A GOAL from former Blackburn Rovers striker Nikola Kalinic was not enough to help Dnipro to Europa League glory and with it a place in the Champions League, as they were beaten 3-2 by Sevilla on Wednesday night.

Kalinic, who joined Rovers for a fee of around £6 million in 2009, put the Ukrainian side ahead in Thursday night’s final.

But the Spaniards responded to take a 2-1 lead and although Ruslan Rotan levelled again before the break Carlos Bacca scored the winner, and his second, in the second half to secure Sevilla a record fourth win in the competition.

MORE TOP STORIES:

Sevilla, who retained the trophy, will now play in next season’s Champions League as a result of their success.

But they trailed to Kalinic’s header after seven minutes when the Croatian, who made more than 50 appearances for Rovers during his two-year spell at Ewood Park before moving to Dnipro, nodded home a Matheus cross.

Grzegorz Krychowiak levelled with 28 minutes gone to set the stage for Bacca to fire the La Liga side into the lead three minutes later from Jose Antonio Reyes’ defence-splitting pass.

Skipper Rotan dragged the Ukrainians level with a sweetly-struck 44th-minute free-kick, only for Bacca to snatch victory 17 minutes from time with an assured finish.

Sevilla full-back Aleix Vidal paid tribute to Dnipro’s resilience.

He said: “We wanted to win another title. We have always maintained the same thing: if a side gets to the final, it’s because they’re doing things right.

“Dnipro showed they’re a top side. We showed what you had to do in order to get over the line.”

Sevilla coach Unai Emery was delighted to see his side come through a testing 90 minutes on the right end of the scoreline.

He said: “It has been a lot of work. The whole side worked well.

“At half-time, we spoke about how this competition takes a lot out of you, and that we had to wait for our moment. We deserve this.”

Dnipro ended the game with concerns over Brazilian midfielder Matheus, who left the field on a stretcher after collapsing following a clash of heads, although it was later confirmed he’d broken his nose.