“Friend (Mendilibar)What do you think of that girl? (Europa League)? I like the one who is dancing alone for me (Seville). Bella, she knows she’s hot. That all (AS Rome) they are watching her how she dances. I approach and I throw a whole verb (Bond)“. This is how the lyrics of ‘Ella baila sola’ by Armed Link and Featherweighta Mexican corrido that helps me to try to understand a little better how the music works. unwritten law of Seville with your competition: they see the trophy, they wish for it and they take it home. Because if someone can explain the party lived in the Puskas Arena to a server present here, a humble letterwriter who enjoyed the Seville LeagueI will be eternally grateful.
a guy with tracksuit bottoms and a club polo shirt ended up rising above the grass… while ‘The Special One’ he kissed the cruelty of football after losing his first major European final. Don José Luis Mendilibar picked up a Sevilla in ruins, accepted the challenge and ended up signing a real lesson in the final to comply with the motto of the Seville team: “Nobody loves her like we do”… and I add that I don’t think there is someone who takes care of it like you, Sevilla fans.
Mourinho gave his finalist medal to a young Roma fan
The chess game, which was decided after 120 minutes and a penalty shootout, had a nice game of structures in which I dominated the first part Jose Mourinho… until it was seen surprised by Mendilibar’s notebook after the break. The Italian technician expert in minimizing the rival and making their teams compete to levels never before achievedsuffocated Sevilla with risky pressure that ended up costing them the game.
Aggressive wingers and two smart changes
Roma was the team that had it the clearest when the game started… because the lack of reading ended up causing Seville a total disconnect. they did not know take advantage of the mismatch in the defensive framework of Roma when one of the wingers decides to jump into the pressure. The game asked Mendilibar’s men to play on the outside… but they couldn’t find the possibility of benefiting from the aggressiveness of Spinazzola and Elik to take advantage of the holes left in his back.
The movement forced Ibez and Mancini to be attentive to cover… but Sevilla insisted on playing inside more than necessary. And that’s where Dybala’s goal came to make it 1-0 on the scoreboard. Rakitic tried to turn on himself in the center of the field and Cristante, Italian bulldog, stole the ball perfectly. The ball stayed dead and Mancini filtered a brilliant ball to the Argentine into the holewhich he defined with everything to sign the first goal of the final.
Goal by Dybala (0-1) in Sevilla 1-1 Rome
Mendilibar changed the system in the second part with the entrance of Suso and Lamela… and the face of Sevilla was different. The Spaniard enjoyed possession of the ball to make his rival dizzy and the Argentine with the holes that he was finding in the rivals’ backs. Defensive aids no longer came as easily and the team from Seville found a way to tickle their rival in the simplest way: lateral crosses.
Launch of ‘stones’ and his entry into Pep’s club
“A friend of mine says that with all the stones they throw at me a monument could be made”. Criticized to exhaustion, the Portuguese coach used this simile to explain his feelings in the world of football. What I didn’t expect from ‘The Special One’ is that The stones that he will end up having to get rid of during the Europa League final will be the 50 centers (I’m not a good mathematician… but there they go) that Mendilibar’s men launched in the second half to corner the Italian team. That is where the 1-1 will arrive after a perfect parable by Jess Navas that Mancini ended up getting into his own door.
Another of Mourinho’s most remembered phrases at Real Madrid occurred in 2010 with the Gonzalo Higuan out due to injury and the only presence as a substitute for Karim Benzema: “If you don’t have a dog to go hunting, you go with the cat”. The Roma coach suffered something similar at the Puskas Arena when he had to replace Dybala, who forced to play the final, in minute 68. The Argentine playmaker was the only generator of danger that Rome had and with his green march he activated a contingency plan that consisted of planting the bus in front of the gate rui patrick. They locked themselves in and tried to avoid the gale of the rival’s lateral centers… and they even came close to surprising Sevilla from set pieces. They did not count on the wall that Bono planted in the other goal… bigger still than the Mourinhoneta.
“We go home dead because of an injustice. The referee seemed Spanish, so many yellow cards. And then when he had to take the second one from Lamela, he didn’t take it. And then he scored one of the penalties. It’s an injustice,” Mourinho complained at the press conference on the refereeing of anthony taylor. Later, Mourinho would end up losing his temper in the stadium parking lot after facing the arbitration trio: “It has been a complete disaster, a shame” Some ugly words that try to tarnish the Sevilla title and that cause him toMourinho’s entry into Pep Guardiola’s club… which he himself believed: “There are three types of coaches. A group that never criticizes the errors of the referees; another very large one, in which I am, who criticizes the errors of the referees; and a new group, in which Guardiola is alone, who criticizes the success of the referees“Because the referee’s performance was good… and the reviews from the VAR were even better.
The simplicity of football: Rakitic and the change that sentenced Roma
The simplicity of football but only on the feet of some. Ivan Rakitic he deployed his entire arsenal to sign a dream final. At 35, the Sevilla midfielder demonstrated that Croatians do not care how old their identity card reflects. His physical display was simply brutal and from his boots the tactical order that Mendilibar’s team imposed in the second half to lock up the rival in their field. Intelligent when it comes to moving the ball from side to side, Rakitic was the best recipe to conquer the seventh.
Bono’s miracle to take Sevilla to extra time
On the side of ‘La Loba’, simplicity was reflected in Paulo Dybala. La Joya made it 1-0… and gave sense to his companions, something essential in these times. The Argentine midfielder received from behind, endured the attacks and gave oxygen to his team; he was able to make two scoring chances out of nothing: the first ended in an almost goal by Spinazzola after force Mendilibar’s men to a 2 for 1 in band and the second ended in a pool by Mancini inside the area after a unique invention by the Argentine. His change was almost worse news than the goal received in the 58th minute… because with his departure from the grass, the ideas of Rome disappeared.