First team

SAMPAOLI: “WE LACKED THE EFFICIENCY TO CONVERT MORE, BUT IT WAS A VERY GOOD MATCH”

22/04/2017

The Argentine boss commented that "the fact that Ganso didn't play has to do with me, there's a lot of competition in his position"

Jorge Sampaoli analysed the victory against Granada CF in the press room, underlining the attacking potential shown by the team: "The match was one with 18 or 19 attacks, uncommon in LaLiga, the team were in the opposition half the whole time. There wasn't the necessary efficiency to convert more chances, but I think it was a very good match".

"Hopefully we'll have the chance to fight for third place until the end"

Looking ahead to the final stage of the season, he added, "We want to fight match by match and hopefully we can fight for that opportunity until the end. If the efficiency in converting chances had been greater today, we would have won by a bigger margen. Hopefully we'll have the chance to fight for third place until the end".

He continued: "Real Madrid, FC Barcelona and Atlético de Madrid are the favourites for the top places, but we want to keep trying to accumulate points to be ready in case Atlético drop points ahead of the end of the season".

Paulo Henrique Ganso, with his brace, was the man of the match and Sampaoli explained that "Ganso played a great game. If you ask why he came to this club, it has to do with me and why he didn't play has to do with me. In Ganso's position we have Franco Vázquez, Iborra, Correa... There's lots of competition and the tactical decisions, as manager, I opted for other qualities, so I'm saying that if Ganso's talent hasn't been there, it's been my responsibility".

Aside from that, asked about the reaction from the stands towards him, he said that "it will be the people's decision based on some aspect, I don't know why, until very recently I felt the warmth of all the Sevilla fans. I'm clear that I'm going to do everything possible for this club to end up as high as possible and that's not changeable".

Regarding the interest from the AFA (Argentine Football Association) he made clear that "I've already clarified it, I'm focused here, I'm only thinking about the team's current situation and I'm not going to change my attitude. I'm grateful that my country's national side have noticed me, at certain points at the start of the season I had the possibility and I rejected it because of my commitment with this club, now I'm only looking at the present and the objective of qualifying for the Champions League".