First team

MONTELLA: "WE HAVE TO PUT THE CUP FINAL IN A DRAWER, THE IMPORTANT THING NOW IS THE LEAGUE”

10/02/2018

The Sevilla coach was wary of Girona: "It will be a very difficult match against a very physical and compact team"

Vincenzo Montella spoke to the press this Saturday after leading training in the Sports Village and ahead of Sunday's midday clash with Girona FC. The Sevilla FC coach started by showing his happiness at reaching the Final of the Copa Del Rey - a fixture he said needs to be parked: "Congratulations to everyone for the qualification but the most important thing now is to forget the Final, put it in a drawer and open it a week before. It's important to recover in the league".

Expanding on the league, Montella spoke about Girona, an opponent that will not make things easy in Nervión: "It will be a very difficult game because they're a physical and compact team that has grown by being all together. It's going to be a very tough game when they play with a defence of three".

Putting the location of the Copa del Rey Final to one side, he wanted to continue evaluating Sunday's clash - a match which will see Banega unavailable through injury: "He's an important player, we'll miss him tomorrow but I'm not looking for excuses. The player who replaces him will do a great job".

"Euphoria can be dangerous"

Montella was also asked about the euphoria of having reached the Final - a subject he left more in the hands of Sevillistas: "It's always better when you win. You grow in confidence and in enthusiasm but euphoria can be dangerous. We need to focus. All of that is for the fans".

Having accumulated a good number of consecutive games, the Italian coach also evaluated the possibility of rotating the team: "I have my ideas and tomorrow I will confirm them. It's the last game in an important cycle and we have an extra day of rest".

The coach finished off by talking about his objective, focusing on recovering in the league to get in the hunt with the closest rival: "Our objective is for there to be continuity and before we think about recovering points from Valencia, we should think about recovering points from Villarreal".