ESCUDERO: "WE'VE ALREADY SHOWN WE CAN HURT THEM A LOT"

Sergio Escudero was the player to speak to the press at the official pre-match press conference for the Copa del Rey Final. The Sevilla captain, who accompanied Vincenzo Montella in the press room of the Wanda Metropolitano Stadium first addressed the shape of the team following three days training in Marbella: "The sensations we have are quite good. We've been doing a good job and we come with the mentality of believing we can win in the final. Everyone makes Barcelona favourites but we've already shown we can do them a lot of damage. When the team is together and united we can beat anyone". 

The left-back was asked about the difficulty of stopping Messi, who this season took victory out of Sevilla's mouths when the side was ahead at the Sánchez-Pizjuán just one month ago: "We're talking about one of the best footballers in the world. I think it's difficult to stop him because he has lots of solutions but the key tomorrow is to be united and to make sure he doesn't get the ball".

In the same regard, he analysed how the team's isolated training camp has been: "Those days of training were very positive. We did something together and we spent more time together. We're all convinced we can win and that's the attitude we'll come in with".

"In this kind of game where your head can do more than your legs"

On Sevilla FC's chances of qualifying for the Europa league, Escudero was clear in confirming that the priority is league competition; though not ruling out the chances on the line in tomorrow's fixture: "We've tried to work throughout the season to be in Europe. Things aren't quite working as we wanted but if tomorrow we win, we reach our goal, though primarily we wanted to do so through La Liga. On the physical side of things, the team comes in in good shape though in these matches your head can do more than your legs".