IBORRA: "ON REFLECTION WE HAVE TO VALUE WHAT WE'VE ACHIEVED"

The Sevilla FC captain, Vicente Iborra, gave his assessment of the season for SFC Radio, taking time out from his well-earned break. "In the league we achieved an important objective which we hadn't managed for a number of years, in the Champions League we got through the group phase, something which we didn't do last year, and in the cup we were knocked out by Madrid... On reflection we have to value what we've achieved and know that we've taken another step so that we can keep growing ahead of the coming year and achieve more ambitious objectives... We have to value it. Obviously we want to be better, but we also have to keep our feet on the ground", he said.

The Valencian described the team's Champions League elimination against Leicester as "a blow" because "we had a chance to make history and it was a blow... We were aware that we were capable of being better than Leicester in many aspects... but in the end it wasn't so... But we have to learn, we have to work and hopefully this will be useful as experience so that we can get to the quarter finals soon and approach it differently".

"We want to be better, but we also have to keep our feet on the ground"

However, he saw the glass as half full, pointing out that last summer "it was difficult to think that we would achieve the objectives that we have, with a new squad, a new coaching staff, a new philosophy... As a result it hasn't been an easy season, but the team went out on the front foot and we can talk about a team that has achieved the objectives that were set".

The captain also admitted that it didn't suit the team well to be included in the candidates for the league title. "When we won in Pamplona and we had the second half of the season to play people were saying we could win the league. It put more pressure on the team, instead of enjoying it... I don't think it suited us, but we have to take the positives, hopefully we can be in a similar situation soon and we can manage it in a different way, from the perspective of enthusiasm to see ourselves up there and not with pressure", he commented.

"People were saying we could win the league. It put more pressure on the team"

And being critical, he confessed that "away from home against the teams at the top it was difficult and perhaps that's been the unresolved issue this year... above all we were strong at home again which is the basis of what we have to keep doing, what we have to maintain".

On an personal note, Iborra ended the season with 44 appearances and 8 goals: "That's what satisfies me most, getting to this point in the year and seeing that I've achieved my objective, which was to play more than 40 games. From that point, if I get goals then it's much better".