Roma boss Jose Mourinho says “history doesn’t win matches” but something has to give in Wednesday’s Europa League final against Sevilla.
Sevilla, record six-time winners, have never lost a Europa League final, while Mourinho has won all five European finals he has ever been involved in.
“You look at Sevilla and you say ‘Sevilla wins every final’,” Mourinho told Uefa.com.
“I don’t like superstition. It’s a new final. It’s new history.”
The winners of the final at Budapest’s Puskas Arena will play in next season’s Champions League – their only hope of doing so. Neither team can finish in the top four of their league, while Sevilla – 11th in La Liga – could miss out on Europe entirely.
Sevilla, who won the 2006, 2007, 2014, 2015, 2016 and 2020 finals, were in relegation trouble until they appointed Jose Luis Mendilibar in March.
The much-travelled 62-year-old has never won a major trophy – while Mourinho, 60, has won the Champions League with Porto and Inter Milan, league titles and cups in Portugal, England, Italy and Spain, the Uefa Cup/Europa League with Porto and Manchester United, and last season’s Europa Conference League with Roma.
“Do I know that I could become the first coach to win this competition with three teams? I really don’t care,” said Mourinho. “I think of the happiness that we can give to these people [fans].
“To be in this final is something that nobody would have expected at the beginning of the season when you see the incredible, incredible quality of the teams in the Europa League. Barcelona and Arsenal were in this competition and they were kicked out very, very early.
“Is the fact that I am up against Sevilla when I won that first trophy [Porto’s 2003 Uefa Cup win over Celtic] in Seville significant? No, I don’t think so. I’ve been in football for many years.
“Maybe people think I’m older than I am. Maybe they look at my white hair and think I’m really old, but not old [enough] to think about closing the circle. No, no, no. You are going to have me, still, for many years.”
Mendilibar said: “He’s always the main man and winning things, while I haven’t won so much.”
Sevilla midfielder Nemanja Gudelj told UEFA: “If somebody had told us at the beginning of the season that this would be the case, we wouldn’t really have believed them.
“Mendilibar has to be thanked for that. We’ve improved our overall style of play, we’ve started getting better results and we’ve started playing the way that Sevilla used to play a few years ago.”
Roma full-back Leonardo Spinazzola is available again after a muscle strain, while forwards Stephan El Shaarawy and Paulo Dybala should be fit too.
Sevilla forwards Suso and Papu Gomez, who missed the game against Elche, were back training this week.
Referee Anthony Taylor leads a team of English officials for the game. Michael Oliver is the fourth official and Stuart Attwell is the video assistant referee.