LOPETEGUI ON CFR CLUJ: "THEY WON ALL THEIR GROUP STAGE MATCHES AND THEY DON'T CONCEDE MANY GOALS"

16/12/2019

"The most important thing is how well you turn up at the knockouts"

Julen Lopetegui has offered his thoughts on the UEFA Europa League Round of 32 draw which has paired Sevilla FC with the Romanian side CFR Cluj: "They're a side who want to take a step up on an international level and have invested very well. They had a very good group stage, winning all their matches, conceding very few goals and they have players in the Romanian national team. They will make it difficult for us, definitely".

The manager spoke about their record: "Here there is an issue, people focus on teams they know more about, but these have beaten Lazio, Rennes and Celtic. The most important thing is how you arrive and perform on the day".

He also spoke about the order of the legs, the first game coming in Romania before the second leg back in Nervión: There is a factor which doesn't help, an away goal in extra time in the second leg. It's not important to me starting at home or away, I'm just mentioning this inequality".

Lopetegui finished by saying "there's a lot of work to do before this tie. We have the new format of the Copa del Rey, it's a return to the more attractive situation where there will be surprises. We hope our match isn't one of them, then we will focus on LaLiga to finish the year off well".