First team

MACHÍN: 'WE WERE VERY SIMILAR TO HOW WE HAD BEEN PLAYING BEFORE'

14/02/2019

'We weren't able to find the final pass or be more clinical in front of goal to kill the tie,' commented the coach

Sevilla FC's manager, Pablo Machín, analysed his team's win against Lazio: 'We feel like we could have scored more with the chances we created. There was also an added difficulty that maybe wasn't obvious to the eye; the pitch wasn't in the best state due to the number of matches played on it and maybe that's why we weren't able to make the final pass or be more clinical in front of goal. I would thank to say thank you to the fans because they pushed us on throughout the entire game.'

The team looked different than in the previous match: 'We were very similar to how we had been playing before. We made fewer errors than in past games. Our errors recently have cost us many goals. We scored first today which is important, we took the initiative, and we were aware of Lazio's strengths and minimised them. We did damage where we thought we could best. We weren't able to finish off our chances though and that's a shame. If we recover well we're going to keep competing at this level.'

The result leaves the tie in Sevilla's hands with the return leg in the Rámon Sánchez-Pizjuán on Wednesday: 'It's a good result but we can't get carried away. A draw or win would get us through to the next round, we have an advantage but we know we have to play well in Europe as every team can hurt you.'

Asked about whether Ben Yedder was substituted due to injury, the coach said 'he is ok. We just need to rest those who are playing the most and make use of all of the players in our squad. We have to think about the next league game.'