The president with his PSG counterpart, Nasser Al-Khelaifi

JOSÉ CASTRO: 'WE HAVE TO RESPECT THE GROUP, IT WILL BE TOUGH TO QUALIFY.'

26/08/2021
The president spoke to the media after the draw in Istanbul

José Castro gave his thoughts to the media after the Champions League draw in Istanbul. The president did admit that it could have been a tougher group, but kept his feet firmly on the ground: 'Getting out of the group will be difficult in every group, and Lille were Ligue 1 Champions ahead of PSG. Salzburg were a tough challenge for Atlético, and obviously we need to respect the group because it'll be difficult to make it through to the last 16. However, the draw could have been worse for us.'

 

Castro did not want to talk about predictions and favourites, and instead was glad to see Sevilla playing on the top level again: 'The most important thing is to be here again, it is the second consecutive year that we've qualified through the league, and Sevilla FC's red and white colours are in the world's most prestigious football tournament. We want to have a good campaign in every competition. We've made a huge effort to improve the squad in challenging transfer windows. This just demonstrates how ambitious we are and we want to keep growing and having an even better squad to reach that next level.'

The president is used to the Champions League draw by now: 'We've been coming to tournament draws for years so you get used to it. You hope for a little bit of luck especially because they are tough groups in general. The most important thing is being able to go as far as possible as a team, and we believe that we have built a team that can do that. Sevilla always wants to strive for more and hopefully this year we can continue to grow.'

'We've been coming to tournament draws for years so you get used to it.'

Joining him at the draw were representatives from PSG, Man City and the Spanish clubs, and Castro was also seen talking to UEFA president, Aleksander Ceferin: 'We get on well, we have a good relationship and we stay in contact. Football is our passion and the success that Sevilla is having means that it has more pedigree on an international level too. We always discuss continental football as well as matters that involve Sevilla FC.'

'We get on well, we have a good relationship and we stay in contact.'

The spotlight will also be on Sevilla when the Europa League draw is announced on Friday: 'It is amazing to see that everyone will be talking about Sevilla FC and the Ramón Sánchez-Pizjuán. The venue for the Europa League is Seville in our stadium, and preparations are already in place for the final and Sevilla fans can be proud of their home.'

Castro was also asked about the aims for this season and the transfer market: 'You can see it in the streets, in the media, everywhere. Everyone can see that there is not a lot of movement in the football world currently. But we've gone that extra mile to have a better team to get us better results. This doesn't go unnoticed by the footballing world and by Sevilla fans in particular.'