QUIQUE SÁNCHEZ FLORES: "GAMES AGAINST OSASUNA ARE ALWAYS PHYSICAL BATTLES"

Quique Sánchez Flores spoke at the pre-match press conference ahead of facing Osasuna this weekend. He began by talking about moving on from the past few days since our cup defeat. "We've trained very little. At the end of the match, we were sad for not getting through, but we felt like we had competed. We had talked amongst ourselves about the idea of always competing. The result can be very random depending on many other factors, but as a minimum we have to compete and hopefully we can continue doing that tomorrow." He also spoke about the absences from the squad in the past Thursday's match: "Mariano won't be available. He is injured and won't be able to play. We see in training that he's having difficulties doing the things we want. He came to talk to us this week, saying he not feeling 100% and had difficulties in training. We can't bring a player who isn't at 100% and is unavailable."

He then explained Mejbri's absence: "After speaking with Hannibal and seeing his first minutes in Girona, we gave him the necessary space to understand where he is, what the club means, and how we want to see him play. We've given him this period of learning so he can see things from the outside, and he'll return to the squad like any other player, and hopefully, he'll contribute a lot until the end of the season. Ultimately, these are young players who arrive at a huge club like Sevilla, in a difficult period and they need a bit of time to adapt. Sometimes, things are clearer from the outside than from within, and from our point of view, he needed to take a step back to see how we organise ourselves. We want him to apply himself, and we believe he'll perfectly understand what we want from him." On the game at Metropolitano, he spoke some of the decisions that went against us. "It's water under the bridge and doesn't change anything, but in any case, of course, I had an opinion. I think the penalty, once it's called, shouldn't be reviewed, just like the first one wasn't. Then, there was a clear penalty on Sow that I don't know why VAR didn't intervene." 

"Those who are playing again are at their limit, and tomorrow we have to make that final effort."

Lukebakio is back doing some light ball work but is still working his way back. "He's progressing well, but he had a bad injury. Seeing him back on the pitch give us a boost because he a really good player who can hurt teams and he will help us through this difficult period. We need to be strong, trust who is available and get ourselves up for the game." Lamela and Sow did not train today. "They are players who are making a big effort. Sow is doing so because he has tendinitis, and we've had nine games in 20 days. Games at an average of every three and a half days. Those who are playing repeatedly are at their limit, and tomorrow we have to make that final effort so they can rest. They've had only one day off since we returned from Christmas. Players need to recover and we have to ensure they're in the best condition possible for each match. Lamela had a small problem yesterday and he'll probably be unavailable as well."

Speaking on the transfer market he said: "If there's a departure, there will be an arrival. If there's an arrival, it's clear within the club that it should be a forward." Analysing Osasuna, he expects a tricky game: "Every match against Osasuna has always been about duels, very physical, with a lot of second balls, direct play, crosses... They're a team that presses you and doesn't leave spaces, they've been under Jagoba for many years. They're serious, they know what they want. We have to use our fans and our quality. We are fully focused on winning." 

Finally, he was asked about the club's investment in new technologies: "Sevilla has always been one of the pioneering clubs in analysis and big data. Those of us who have been outside always know that Sevilla has been ahead in that regard. I believe a lot in statistics, in big data, and in how it's used. There are a lot of statistics in football these days but the important thing is to contextualise them based on what the team needs."