Sevilla boss Jose Luis Mendilibar is here for three months, he loves winning, he destroyed Manchester United and he doesn’t care if the club will offer him to stay beyond this season. He was the guy who turned tiny Eibar from La Liga’s surprise package into serian over-achievers. He hates social media, he doesn’t need you to like him – and he’s got the biggest game of his career tonight!Sevilla have had a long, long season. Their expectations weren’t too high, but they were still left disappointed with the disastrous Jorge Sampaoli reign. The team was dangerously close to La Liga’s relegation zone and facing the daunting prospect of playing Manchester United in the Europa League. It was about to get ugly.Hemos ganado dando asco pero me da igual, DON JOSE LUIS MENDILIBAR DIRECTOR DE ORQUESTA pic.twitter.com/YkiHLNtPKM— 🍩 (dep Juventus) (@MarcaoPuter0) April 27, 2023 Sevilla directors fell back to their last resort: Mendilibar. The 62-year-old Basque coach had a reputation for leading small teams to unforeseen heights. He was in charge of Eibar, the tiniest club ever to finish in the top half of La Liga in 2018. His methods were always simple: be responsible, be hungry and get the ball off your opponent no matter what. The man built a reputation as a coach who can get the best out of his team when faced with adversity. It’s something Sevilla desperately needed this year. So they gave Jose a three-month contract to steady the ship and get the team to safety before the season came to the last few days. And it worked incredibly well. Mendilibar’s team won seven of 11 games, losing only once. And those wins included the 3-0 thrashing of Manchester United to reach the UEFA Europa League semi-final. Those two games against the Red Devils were the first European fixtures for Mendilibar since he led Athletic Club in the 2005 lowly, now-defunct Intertoto Cup. It was a miracle – and it brings us to Sevilla’s tonight’s opponents: Juventus.##NAJAVA_MECA_7261890##Last week, the six-time UEL winners held a 1-0 lead for most of the game in Turin thanks to a Youssef En-Nesyri’s strike, but Federico Gatti’s last-gasp equaliser set up a thrilling second leg in Seville. Mendilibar will have to perform another miracle.”We have already had one great tie against Manchester United, and now we face another great team, Juventus. It is going to be a similar experience. If we can get to the final, it will be my greatest achievement in football. I have done good things with other teams, but nothing as big as this. This club is used to playing finals, and when they get to a final, they usually win.”🗣️ José Luis Mendilibar on his philosophy….”I prefer playing wide to playing narrow and playing in the opposition half rather than our own.”I want players who know how to play in between the opposition when defending, not one on one.”@SevillaFC || #UEL pic.twitter.com/OIwXXOMGhh— UEFA Europa League (@EuropaLeague) May 10, 2023 Speaking ahead of the Juventus clash at Estadio Ramon Sanchez Pisjuan, the Basque coach said he’s trying not to overload his players with too much information.”Juventus is a big club with a great team. When we were there last week, we were reminded of all the titles and trophies they’d won. You instantly get how important that club is. So we must play with patience and a cool head. We want to set the rhythm of the game and use the ball to create something in attack. I don’t need to tell the players too much about Juventus because we already played them last week. There are no secrets.”You could say Mendilibar is old school because of his views – but he has no problems speaking his mind on various subjects. Recently, he proclaimed that social media is used for even because most people only use it to vent their frustrations and abuse others.”I’ve never had social media in my life. All inventions are for the good, but they are used for evil. All of them. It is rare that someone on a social network says something nice to someone. It is usually to go after someone in the wrong way. Today everything is digital, it goes through the air, and we rarely see each other face to face. We talk person to person; that is lost, and it sucks in my view.”Jose Luis Mendilibar’s first experience of European football was not a pleasant one. pic.twitter.com/4nDhyT8h6s— Football España (@footballespana_) May 11, 2023 The public in Sevilla is delighted with their new coach, but they all want to know whether he’ll still be there next season.”That’s a question for the director of football Monchi, and the club president. I don’t care about it now. I signed up for three months, and it’s been great. Many said I was crazy, and they called me a dead man walking. But I’m alive. We want to do well. I don’t know if I’ll stay, but I don’t care. I’ve been unemployed before, you know!”Sevilla’s veteran midfielder Ivan Rakitic called the fans to make a memorable atmosphere, just like they’d done when Manchester United came to town.”We’re going to light up the Sanchez-Pizjuán. Once again, we’re going to show the world what our stadium is all about, the atmosphere we’re capable of creating together.”2-0 at Cádiz 2-0 at Valencia 1-0 at Athletic Club 3-0 at Real ValladolidSevilla have won every game away from home in LaLiga without conceding since José Luis Mendilibar arrived.One point off 7th 👀 pic.twitter.com/ZiN6Jaw4GH— Matthew Clark (@MattClark_08) May 14, 2023 Argentinean winger Lucas Ocampos sustained a muscle injury after setting up En-Nesyri’s opener in the first leg, but he should be fit for tonight’s game. The home team will be without midfielder Joan Jordan and defenders Marcao and Tanguy Nianzou. The Italians won’t count on veteran defender Leonardo Bonucci, Mattia De Sciglio, young Brazilian prospect Kaio Jorge and, sadly, Paul Pogba, who suffered another injury setback last weekend.UEFA EUROPA LEAGUESemifinal, second legThursday22:00 2.60 Sevilla 3.25 Juventus 3.00 (first leg 1-1)22:00 2.20 Bayer Leverkusen 3.45 AS Roma 3.60 (first leg 0-1)***odds are subject to change
