Mendilibar and Mourinho, two opposite views in football

The Europa League ends this Wednesday in Budapest, capital decades ago of one of the most important football schools in football, cradle of the Hungarian team that in 1952 destroyed England at Wembley, an occasion that has gone down in history as the Match of the Century. That immense prestige began to evaporate in the 80s, until it was lost in the current nebula, but the indelible imprint of players like Puskas, Boszik, Kocsis and Florian Albert remains. Great scenario, therefore, for the final that will dispute Sevilla and Roma, led by Mendilibar and Mourinho, two coaches who have traveled football with opposite profiles and very different paths.

There is no possibility of dissociating Sevilla's season from the impact of Mendilibar, hired in March until the end of the season, with the team rushing into the classification, amid an anguish that nobody imagined in a club accustomed to playing the Champions League and winning the Europa League. Mendilibar arrived at an agonizing Sevilla, divided by internal wars and looking at the last positions of the League. The rescue was to save the furniture in the Spanish championship. The European adventure was given a secondary value.

Sevilla claimed Mendilibar for a trajectory that has run mainly in teams subjected to the double vertigo of promotion and relegation, a thin line that has traveled in Valladolid, Osasuna and Eibar. In that inhospitable territory, Mendilibar acquired the excellent reputation that the call of Sevilla deserved, without any apparent contraindication. A man of character, no nonsense, dedicated to football with admirable honesty and passion, coach of footballers, not of figurines, provided with a model as clear and known as demanding, Mendilibar has entered Sevilla like a glove.

Throughout the season, Sevilla had become accustomed to entanglement and dissatisfaction. A team accustomed to success lost all its light. Packaging players, some of them recent World Cup winners, disappointed in the general perplexity, to the point of questioning their real quality. In favor of Sevilla and Mendilibar there was a connection: through Dmitrovic, Jordán and Bryan Gil – former Eibar players – the club had the best news from the coach, who in turn could perfectly take advantage of a squad with numerous players to suit him.

Another essential aspect in Mendilibar's career has been his ability to play big with small teams, destined for attacking football, with players in the rival field, the deep wingers, the wide open wingers and forwards of body, headers. All that was in the squad and he did not waste a minute in taking advantage of it, in exchange for an absolute commitment of the players, in all the games and against any team. The response was instantaneous, first in La Liga, then in the Europa League, against Manchester United and Juve, two historic football powerhouses.

Sevilla is now characterized by the fire lost for many months. He bears the mark printed by his coach, one of those characters that suits football. They make it healthier. In Budapest he will face Roma, led by Mourinho, a coach who has gone through the best teams in the world and has won every trophy imaginable. The designs of football and several previous disappointments have led him there.

Mourinho is worshipped in Rome, like Mendilibar in Seville. Rarely will a final bring together two coaches more disparate in their professional career and in their view of football. One is distinguished by nobility and sincerity. The other prefers malicious approach and mind games.

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