Mendilibar, the seventh is the first – Spain’s News

Six games had been directed by José Luis Mendilibar in Europe. Two in the missing Intertoto with Athletic that were two defeats against the Romanian Cluj. And four to Sevilla since he took charge of the team well into the season to save himself from relegation with ease and take it to where it belongs on the continent, until the final of the Europa League. In the seventh he has also won the seventh for Sevilla. Along the way, two wins and two draws against two historical, Manchester United and Juventus.

Sevilla needed a Basque coach to regain its place in the world and a place in the next Champions League. The first two came with Juande Ramos on the bench and then he has achieved another five with Basque coaches. Each of a different origin. Emery won three in a row and Lopetegui, the one with the pandemic in 2020, the most special of all until Mendilibar arrived to turn everything around. “Mendi” grew up in the Athletic Club youth academy. Unai and Julen, in that of the Royal Society.

When the coach already champion of the Europa League sat on the Sevilla bench, the club’s only concern was to get rid of relegation to Second. The Europa League seemed like a punishment destined to shoot the substitutes so that the starters would not be confused about the main objective and injuries would not punish the team in important games. This is how he managed to draw a draw at Old Trafford against Manchester United that excited the entire club and the fans with a moment like the one they experienced in Budapest.

With United, who had passed Betis in the previous round, Sevilla met in the quarterfinals. And the superstitions kicked in. Whenever the team had reached that round in the second continental competition, they had been champions. And Mendilibar and the players have complied with tradition. «I don’t know if I believe it, they have given us the medal, the trophy, it seems that we have won. When I’m on vacation I’ll start to believe it,” says Mendilibar.

«It has always been the most difficult path and ending like this I think none of us would have dreamed of it, “Monchi acknowledged., Sevilla’s sporting director, after the game. But he did not want to clarify anything about the future of the coach, the third the team has had this season. “To enjoy tomorrow in Seville, offer our fans the title and on Monday we will see,” he said. “We all know what we want and surely the decision we make will be good for everyone,” he added.

Sevilla sought the truth in Mendilibar after Sampaoli was unable to straighten the course of a season that was born crooked. A coach who flees from posturing, who does not seek to be interesting with complex concepts. He relied on the players he had known at Eibar, Dmitrovic, Joan Jordán and Bryan Gil. They and the others have given him the first title of him.

The merits are enough to continue in the club, but the leaders are reluctant to announce it. «We are super happy with him. More than super happy, “says the president of Sevilla, Pepe Castro, who prefers to wait until Monday. The players do not hesitate to say that they want him by their side next season. Starting with Jesús Navas, the captain, who does not hesitate to ask for a renewal for a coach who has saved the team and won a title in just two months.