The ex-Los Palanganas star spoke about the affinity his former team have with the competition they have won on five occasions
Former Sevilla star Coke believes the team’s ‘love relationship’ with the Europa League has helped propel them into four of the last seven finals in the competition.
The five-time Europa League winners will take on Inter in Saturday’s final after a 2-1 come-from-behind win over Manchester United in their semi-final.
Coke, who is now at Levante after featuring in Sevilla’s three consecutive Europa titles between 2014-16, feels his former club have built a relationship with the competition and helped to grow it through their success.
“The fact is that the special moments that Sevilla has experienced with the Europa League they have not experienced in another competition,” Coke told Goal. “Sevilla has helped this competition grow and be highly recognized and the Europa League titles have helped Sevilla be known at European and world level.
“This love relationship is true that can be seen in events such as [Andres] Palop’s goal, [Stephane] Mbia’s goal or the other day in those 10 minutes [against Man Utd] in which [Yassine] Bounou stopped a few [shots].
“Sevilla bet and have bet for many years on this competition and they always give it back.”
While Sevilla will be slight underdogs for the final against Inter, Coke sees the match as being a close battle that could possibly be decided by one or two goals.
“Sevilla have shown that they are great and they will compete in the final,” Coke said. “Inter is a great team that if they defend deep, they can get in behind. They have very good players who can make a difference.
“Sevilla have a lot of heart, I think they can dominate the game in many phases of the game, I have no doubts. I don’t think it will be a game with many goals and, how accurate the people at the top are, will determine the game because I see it as quite even.”
Sevilla won the first of their five Europa League titles in 2006 against Middlesbrough before clinching it again the next season versus fellow La Liga side Espanyol.
Their treble of titles in the competition between 2014-16 came via finals against Benfica, Dnipro and Liverpool.
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