Sevilla are specialists in Europa League success. They have gone through Manchester United and Juventus to reach this year's final. And yet Ivan Rakitic views beating Roma as an "even harder" assignment for one reason and one reason alone: Jose Mourinho, one of the top three coaches in the world, according to the Croatian.
"A great," Rakitic told Tuttosport, "who has already won all of the European cups in his career... Mourinho is a truly special strategist, unique in every sense."
No matter what you make of Mourinho and his methods, it's impossible to disagree. He looked finished at the very highest level after his Spurs sacking, but his time at Tottenham has since been cast in a very different light by Antonio Conte's subsequent struggles working under Daniel Levy - and, far more importantly, by his remarkable revival of Roma.