Yep, surprised. Liverpool in European finals is usually a safe bet. Sevilla have won the Europa 3 years running now and 5 times since 2006. Weird they can't quite break into the next tier.
They'll be in Pot 2 for the Champions League next season, so that should significantly increase their chances of getting out of group stages - and if they do, they've shown they're quite handy in knock out matches.
By the way, this means that the of the last 6 available European titles (Champions League and Europa League), all 6 are going to go to Spanish clubs. That's quite staggering.
Do Europa league winners automatically get in pot 2 or is based, as other qualifiers, on Sevilla's uefa coefficient (which is pretty good after the past 3 seasons)?
During that spell of La Liga teams winning, quite a few have been in finals against other La Liga opposition. Since 2000, 9 UCL wins 4 runner ups; 8 Europa League wins 3 runner ups. Probably the best period of domination since Serie A from the late 80s to late 90s.