'We are two great teams,' says Jose Mourinho ahead of Europa League final

Roma boss Jose Mourinho says Sevilla's six previous Europa League wins will count for little against his side in Wednesday's final in Budapest.

Sevilla are aiming for a record seventh triumph at the Puskas Arena, in a match that the Hungarian media have dubbed 'The specialists against the special'.

Mourinho is yet to lose in five major European finals as a manager, while Sevilla have won all six of their Europa League finals.

The Portuguese said in a press conference: "History does not play. My colleague (Sevilla head coach Jose Luis Mendilibar) thinks otherwise, I have respect for him.< /p>

"He thinks history makes Sevilla favourites, I respect that. We are in the final because we deserve it.

"They have a history that we don't. For them, playing the final is a normal thing, for us it's an extraordinary event."

Mourinho is aiming to become the first manager to win the Europa League with three different clubs after his previous successes with Porto (2003) and Manchester United (2017).

The 60-year-old former Chelsea boss added: "We are two great teams, with top players.

"It's curious because we're talking about coaching experience, but we're up against a Sevilla team that has very accustomed players.

"They have a little more experience in the final, but my team comes here ready. We have played a lot of European games in the last two seasons."

Mourinho's last European triumph came last season when he led Roma to victory over Feyenoord in the inaugural Europa Conference League final.

Roma finished second in this season's Europa League qualifying group behind Real Betis and beat RB Salzburg, Real Sociedad and Feyenoord in the Round of 16 to edge Bayer Leverkusen 1-0 in total in the semi-finals.

The Italian side, currently sixth in Serie A with one game to play, could be boosted by the return of former United defender Chris Smalling (hip), while Argentina's Paulo Dybala will hope to play a role despite an ankle injury.

Sevilla head coach Mendilibar, 62, will become the oldest manager to win the Europa League if the Andalusians seal a record seventh tournament victory.

He said the team that made the fewest mistakes during the night at Puskas Arena would win.

The former Eibar and Alaves boss said: "Mistakes are what you pay for in games like this and it's all about making as few mistakes as possible.

"We have eliminated the big teams, but the most difficult is in front of us. Whoever makes the fewest mistakes will win."

Mendilibar has transformed Sevilla since replacing Jorge Sampaoli at the end of March when he was two points above La Liga's relegation zone.

They moved up to 11th in the table, 10 points clear of the drop zone with one game to play, and won their Europa League quarter-final and semi-final under Mendilibar against United and Juventus respectively.