Madrid: Sevilla goalkeeper Marko Dmitrovic believes that Jose Luis Mendilibar is the man to lead the club to their eighth Europa League title.
Mendilibar arrived at Sevilla in March with the aim of helping avoid relegation and looks to have almost accomplished that task in his first league games in charge, with two wins and a draw.
Although the 62-year-old Basque had never coached in Europe, despite his long experience of over 950 games in various dugouts, his European debut ended in a brave 2-2 draw away to Manchester United a week ago, as Sevilla netted two late goals after going 2-0 down in the first half, a Xinhua report said.
Dmitrovic previously worked with Mendilibar for several years at Eibar, and in an interview on Canal Sur Radio, admitted the club had asked him about the coach before his signing.
“They asked me about him, and I tried to be as sincere as possible. I gave my opinion,” he said, adding that he believes “Mendi is a genius and everyone at Sevilla knows my opinion.”
Sevilla receive Manchester United after a 2-0 win away to Valencia on Sunday, while Manchester United defeated Nottingham Forest.
However, the English club travels to Spain with several key players out injured, as top scorer Marcus Rashford is still recovering from a muscle injury, defenders Luke Shaw, Rafael Varane, and Lisandro Martinez, who tore his Achilles tendon in last week’s game, also miss out, as does winger Alejandro Garnacho, while last week’s goalscorer Marcel Sabitzer is also a doubt after not playing at the weekend due to a knock.
“We know we can win,” insisted Dmitrovic, who paid little attention to Manchester United’s injury list.
“It is going to be difficult and it doesn’t matter how many injuries they have; the players who are going to play will give everything, so I’m not thinking about their injuries.”
“There is going to be a great atmosphere in the Sanchez Pizjuan Stadium, but we all know it is going to be tough,” he said.
