SAMPAOLI: "WE NEED TO CHANGE AND START ACTING, NOT REACTING"

Jorge Sampaoli appeared before the media following the last training session ahead of the trip to Turkey. The Sevilla coach, who spoke at the press conference alongside Álex Telles, started by underlining the importance of dominating the game from the outset: "The team is becoming more comfortable as the game progresses. At the start it is difficult to impose ourselves, but we must try to because otherwise the game becomes harder. We have to be the ones who act rather than having to react, because our opponent does more than put pressure on us as they start to break us down and we are not able to find the answers. We are tying to focus on this, because we have to accept that this is what is happening and fix it."

With regard to the doubts over two of our players, he outlined how he will wait until the final moment to make a decision over their availability: "there are players whose fitness we are monitoring and will have to wait and see. There are problems with Nianzou and Jordán and we will wait until the final moment to see if they can be involved from the start or if they can come on as substitutes."

Fully focused on Thursday's clash, he highlighted that "the deceptive part of that first-leg result is that you start to believe it did not happen. There will be pressure on us playing away, but this was the same in The Netherlands and the important thing is that you control what happens on the pitch." 

Speaking about the importance of each match, he underlined: "every game is crucial for whoever is playing but for us, with the difficulties we have faced in LaLiga, everything becomes a little more important with respect to the performance, injuries... We have to have the ability to organise ourselves, understand the reality of the position we find ourselves in and from that come together in the best way possible so that we are ready for the match."

He was also asked if he finds that there are any differences between the team when they play in the league and when they play in Europe: "I don't note any differences, I can see that we are effective in one competition and maybe not so much in the other. Against PSV we were very poor in the first half and we ended up having to defend. Fenerbahçe were not clinical in front of goal, but my team reacted well and we have to change this attitude, from having to react to being the ones to act. The team shows how they can be uncomfortable at times over two legs, but we have to try and be more compact". 

To finish, he spoke about the adaptability of some of his players: "When you start to have injuries in defence and central midfield, you have to play people in positions which they are not used to. We are always trying to resolve these situations, we can only rely upon one centre-back and we hope that this will be sorted out soon... until some players return we will have to keep a defensive system where players might feature out of position. It's about more than effort, we need organisation."