In two months on the job, José Luis Mendilibar has managed to change the mood at Sevilla FC entirely. When the 62-year-old was hired to replace Jorge Sampaoli and to become the Andalusian club’s third coach of the season, Sevilla FC sat just two points above the LaLiga relegation zone and the threat of dropping out of the division was a real one. Now, they are in 11th place and already safe. And, on top of that, they have won this season’s Europa League, lifting this trophy for the seventh time in club history. The Spanish side conquered Manchester United and Juventus in the quarter-finals and semi-finals, before overcoming the challenge of Jose Mourinho’s Roma in Budapest.“I don’t know if I can believe it yet,” the Basque coach said after the game. “I guess that when we go on holiday then I’ll start to realise what we have accomplished. I’m quite happy for myself, but above all I’m happy for the players, who were having a hard time. I told them they were good players and they confirmed it.” BOOM! Benzema leaves Madrid in a shocking move to Saudi Arabia for hundreds of milionsThe improvement started in the LaLiga In his 11 LaLiga games in charge of Sevilla FC, Mendilibar has won six, drawn three and lost two. If just looking at the matchdays since Mendilibar’s debut, Sevilla FC would be fourth with 21 points from 11 games, which is even more than champions FC Barcelona have collected in this time. ##NAJAVA_MECA_7299382##Tactically, Mendilibar has made changes and installed a 4-2-3-1 system in which every player fully understands his role. This formation is unlocking Lucas Ocampos’ potential down the right wing, while Youssef En-Nesyri is causing problems for opposition defences as he plays as a natural No.9. At the other end, a goalkeeping change was made and Marko Dmitrović – who Mendilibar knows from his time at SD Eibar – has been starting in LaLiga, while Bono has been playing in the Europa League. “I don’t ask players to do square roots, I ask them to do addition and subtraction. The players have seen that simplicity also brings results,” commented Mendilibar in a press conference ahead of the Europa League semi-final second leg against Juventus. This is how he has managed to imprint his model in record time, with almost unbeatable results. Sevilla FC win a seventh Europa LeagueNever before in his career had Mendilibar coached in UEFA competitions, but he was able to lead Sevilla FC to a 5-2 aggregate victory over Manchester United in the Europa League quarter-finals. The 3-0 second leg win at the Estadio Ramón Sánchez-Pizjuán was particularly impressive. Then, Los Hispalenses overcame Juventus in the semi-finals to reach another final of the competition. With the score at 2-2 after 180 minutes, it was Erik Lamela who scored in extra time. For Asensio, Paris is just a step away from MadridThen came the final, which started with Roma scoring first through Paulo Dybala. But, Sevilla FC showed great determination and forced an own goal to equalise and make it 1-1. The match went all the way to a penalty shootout, where Bono made two saves before Gonzalo Montiel fired Sevilla FC to glory.
