When Anthony Taylor signaled the end of 147 minutes, plans were clear on the Sevilla bench. Mendilibar knew who was going to take the penalties and that is why he was obsessed with asking Rakitic, as captain already without Navas on the pitch, to ask to take first if he won the toss. The Basque knew that this unwritten law of soccer gives him an advantage. He also knew who had to shoot last. He did not put him in the 94th minute replacing Navas for that, but with Gonzalo Montiel on the field there was no doubt. The reason is simple, he is not under pressure. And that was something that last night greatly benefited Sevilla.

The Argentine has ten penalties scored since he took the fourth in the Copa Libertadores round of 16 shootout for River Plate to eliminate Cruzeiro. That was on July 30, 2019. Seven more followed, at a rate of two per season until December 2022. Then he made his debut with the Albiceleste.. But Europe did respect Sevilla and there’s the result,” he stressed.

The question now on everyone’s mind is what will happen to Mendilibar. “He hasn’t cried because Mendi doesn’t cry,” joked Jordán. “I’ll be pissed off if he doesn’t continue,” warned Navas. Neither Pepe Castro, who was in the title photo before the coaching staff itself, nor Monchi clarified anything. In that suspense lives the Basque, unconcerned, and his assistants, who dismantled the dressing room to take the panels with which UEFA dresses the stage of the finals. Just in case it was the first and the last.