José Luis Mendilibar, the coach of Sevilla, addressed the media at the official press conference organized by UEFA before the return match between the Andalusian team and Manchester United at stake in the semi-finals of the Europa League.
The Basque coach highly respects a huge team like the English team, which in the end will appear in Nervión “with fewer casualties than expected”, as he recalls, admitting that this challenge is ” the most remarkable thing that could have happened in my career as a coach and hopefully it won’t be the last”, he warned.
“We are coming from the win in Valencia, we are coming from good results like the draw in Manchester. The players are good mentally, they know that they can eliminate their rival, they know that they are a difficult opponent but that we going to the competition . We started at the beginning fifty percent of one and the other”, indicated the Sevilla coach, who does not think about the casualties of the enemy, where the big doubt is the presence or not of Marcus Rashford: “Until they give the alignment, I won’t think about who will play and who won’t. Normally you push the players because you want them to recover and then they won’t come back fully. We also have those who suffered or are recovering from long injuries. Rashford is one of the best forwards at the moment. But we’re not going to play depending on whether Rashford is there or not. Because if you prepare the game thinking he’s going to play and then he’s not going to play, what are you doing? We prepare the game respecting the opponent as much as possible and then when they give us the lineup telling each player what he has in front of him, but little else. If Rashford plays it’s because he’ll be fine, I don’t think they’ll risk it. And if he doesn’t play another one that can do a lot of damage to him”.
Mendilibar also referred to the two own goals from Manchester that put Sevilla in the tie, but he distanced himself from the relationship this aspect has with good or bad fortune. “It’s true that there were two own goals, but what I told the players is that with the quality we have, if we get a lot of crosses and spend a lot of time in the opposite area, they will be in our favor. Those rebounds or the their mistake. If we are in our own field it will be complicated,” he recalled.
Mendilibar believes the tie is at 50 percent. “We come with 2-2 and we play in our own half, but it’s not an advantage. It’s 50% for each team. The fans will help you, but on the pitch it’s eleven against eleven. They are veterans of these competitions and they know what it’s like to play a do-or-die quarterfinal.
In this sense, expect a good atmosphere in the stadium, which will influence the motivation of the players. “The stadium will be full of the colors of a club and at all times, from the beginning to the end, supporting the players. The illusion is there. Even if we don’t win the matches we win, the competition that this is for the Sevilla player, For the club, for the players, it is different, and you see it on the street”.
Source: La Verdad
I am Shawn Partain, a journalist and content creator working for the Today Times Live. I specialize in sports journalism, writing articles that cover major sporting events and news stories. With a passion for storytelling and an eye for detail, I strive to be accurate and insightful in my work.
