Spanish La Liga side Sevilla are aiming to take another step towards a seventh Europa League title when they entertain Juventus in their Sanchez Pizjuan Stadium on Thursday night.

Advertisement

Only a goal late in injury time denied Sevilla a 1-0 win in Turin a week ago and Juventus will have to deal with packed stands and an intense atmosphere in Sevilla's home ground.

Advertisement

The side coached by veteran Jose Luis Mendilibar used that atmosphere to good effect in the quarterfinals when they thrashed Manchester United 3-0 and they go into Thursday's match after a 3-0 La Liga win away to Valladolid at the weekend, a Xinhua report said.

Mendilibar has been key to the club's turnaround in recent weeks from relegation candidates to challengers in Europe, with the club losing just one in 11 games since he replaced Jorge Sampaoli as coach.

His move to Sevilla has seen the former Eibar coach reunited with midfielder Joan Jordan and winger Bryan Gil - both of whom worked with him at Eibar and although Jordan is an injury doubt for Thursday, Gil is delighted to be back at the club where he began his career and working with a man he knows well.

"I'm here because (Director of Sport) Monchi and Sampaoli wanted me, but when I saw that Mendilibar, a man who got the best from me at Eibar, was coming, I was really happy."

Advertisement

"He's getting the best out of our team and we are seeing that on the pitch," said Gil in an interview with Spanish sports paper Diario AS.

The winger described the 62-year-old as "very demanding" but "what makes him special is that he likes things to be simple and he is very clear and easy to get along with in your day-to-day dealings with him and that makes things easy," he explained.

Also Read: IPL 2023 Points Table

Advertisement

Winger Suso will miss out through injury on Thursday, while influential defender Pape Gueye wasn't included in Sevilla's squad for Europe and is ineligible to play.

About the Author

IANS News
IANS is one of the largest independent private Indian news agency in India. Founded in the year 1986 by Indian American publisher Gopal Raju as the "India Abroad News Service" and later renamed. Their main offices are located in Noida, Uttar Pradesh. Read More
Latest Cricket News