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Óscar Arias alongside Jesús Arroyo and Monchi
First team

ÓSCAR ARIAS: "IT WILL BE A DIFFICULT BUT BEAUTIFUL TIE"

11/12/2017
Entradilla
The Director of Football was optimistic about the team's chances in making it through to the quarter-finals: "A year ago Celta were on the brink of knocking them out and I hope we'll have that same chance"
Cuerpo Superior

Óscar Arias didn't hesitate in giving his verdict on the last-16 Champions League draw in Nyon: "There was nobody easy in the pot. It's true there were teams with less prestige and history but they were all strong and Manchester United is historic, one of the most important. It will be a difficult but beautiful tie".

On if Sevilla have any chance of getting through, the Director of Football was clear: "We're going to have our chances. It's going to be difficult because they're a very powerful team but Celta last year were on the verge of knocking them out and they deserved to. We hope we'll have our chance. If we're like we were in Madrid the other day we won't - that's obvious. We have to fix mistakes because we didn't do things as well as we wanted to but in the important moments we've shown capability and we have to find consistency and performances against opponents of this level".

He highlighted a need to put the past behind as soon as possible: "It was a match where we didn't do things well and were killed off in the first-half. It's not the image we want to show of Sevilla but we have shown the right one before - though not with the consistency we'd like". He also said he hoped Berizzo would be back for the tie: "We hope he recovers as soon as possible. It's a delicate situation but up until now everything has gone well and I hope he'll be able to lead the team".