Match groups in Python

Is there a way in Python to access match groups without explicitly creating a match object (or another way to beautify the example below)?

Here is an example to clarify my motivation for the question:

Following Perl code

if    ($statement =~ /I love (\w+)/) {
  print "He loves $1\n";
}
elsif ($statement =~ /Ich liebe (\w+)/) {
  print "Er liebt $1\n";
}
elsif ($statement =~ /Je t\'aime (\w+)/) {
  print "Il aime $1\n";
}

translated into Python

m = re.search("I love (\w+)", statement)
if m:
  print "He loves",m.group(1)
else:
  m = re.search("Ich liebe (\w+)", statement)
  if m:
    print "Er liebt",m.group(1)
  else:
    m = re.search("Je t'aime (\w+)", statement)
    if m:
      print "Il aime",m.group(1)

looks very awkward (if-else-cascade, match object creation).