Struggling Sevilla fire coach Sampaoli, appoint Mendilibar

21.03.2023 - 21:15 channelnewsasia.com

:Relegation-threatened Sevilla fired coach Jorge Sampaoli on Tuesday and appointed Jose Luis Mendilibar as his replacement until the end of the season, with the LaLiga side just two points above the drop zone.Sevilla have lost four of their last seven league matches, including a 6-1 humbling by Atletico Madrid.Although they are through to the Europa League quarter-finals, they sit 14th in LaLiga on 28 points with 12 games left following Sunday's 2-0 loss at Getafe."Following defeat at Getafe, which leaves the side just above the relegation zone, the club have decided to part ways with the Argentine coach ahead of the international break," Sevilla said in a statement.Argentine Sampaoli, 63, also coached Sevilla in the 2016-2017 season before taking up the Argentina national team job.Mendilibar has been coaching for nearly 30 years with his longest stint being a second spell at Eibar from 2015 to 2021.The 62-year-old kept Eibar up for six straight seasons before they were eventually relegated in 2021."The Basque coach has signed a contract until the end of the season, 30th June, and will take charge of his first training session this evening," Sevilla said."In his 448 top-flight matches, he has a record of 128 wins, 125 draws and 195 defeats."Sevilla are record six-times Europa League winners and next face Manchester United.

Sevilla Jorge Sampaoli Manchester Argentina Madrid

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José Luis Mendilibar, the fixer setting Sevilla on straight path towards safety

J osé Luis Mendilibar can’t be bothered with the bullshit. Enjoyably potty-mouthed, as direct in the press room as on the pitch, he is, he says, the anti-modern football manager. He tells it the way it is, challenges fools and takes on authority, doesn’t like VAR – a circus, he calls it – and definitely doesn’t like the theatre, insisting: “we’re a bunch of cheats in La Liga; touch us and it’s like someone killed us.” He doesn’t have an iPad, doesn’t think much of the stats and doesn’t mind saying so. He reckons too many training grounds look like airports – cones and arrows and God-knows-what all over the place – and too many coaches hang around there all day to make a point, not a difference.