LOPETEGUI: 'WE PLAYED REALLY WELL AGAINST A TOUGH OPPONENT'

19/01/2021

Lopetegui praised his team's effort against 'an aggressive and stubborn opponent'

Julen Lopetegui attended the media following Sevilla FC's away win against Deportivo Alavés. The Basque first offered a general overview of events at the Mendizorroza: 'I'm feeling positive because we played really well at a tough ground against an aggressive team who never gave up and gave us problems up top with Joselu. We played well, but we should have defended their equaliser a lot better. But they didn't have any chances in the second half, we had a goal ruled out but we did have the penalty save... I think we deserved the three points tonight.'

Asked about some controversial moments in the game, Lopetegui offered his opinion but focussed on Bono's excellent save after the penalty was given: 'I've seen En-Nesyri's, it seems it's touched his shoulder and I've been told that Jules' was never a penalty. What's most important is that Bono made the save and we came away with three hard-fought points.' Lopetegui also singled out Jules Koundé, who has been having some positive forays in attack in the previous matches: 'It's a possibility we've been analysing, Jules reads things well in attack.'

To finish, he congratulated his team from coming back from the equaliser: 'We played really well in the first half, resisting their pressure. The goal had a big effect on the game. We didn't have too difficult a time in the second half but we were happy to come away with the three points.'