MENDILIBAR: "SOMETIMES YOU DON'T PLAY WELL, BUT YOU STILL GET CHANCES AND WE ARE TAKING THEM"

José Luis Mendilibar didn't deny that his team struggled at times tonight in the victory in San Mamés: "It was tricky, we knew that they were going to throw the kitchen sink at us tonight and take risks. They wanted to play in our part of the pitch and dominate us. It was a bit like that, but we managed to weather the storm and we were able to restrict them on the scoreboard. We didn't play very well but the three points are very important because we are now up to 41 points, we are far off the relegation zone and we can focus on the players' recovery with the break before facing Girona, where we will see if we can win again." 

The man from the Basque Country didn't disagree that luck was on our side: "Since we have come together everything has gone well, there have been games where we have been brilliant, others not so much, but we have been competitive. I have always said that we have great players and sometimes chances will come to you spontaneously and we are beginning to make the most of them."

He also made it clear that there are aspects of the team which need to improve: "Today I did not see my team do well attacking-wise. We didn't create anything, we didn't get into their box, showed no clinical prowess nor crossed the ball into the box. At the back we were good because they didn't have many clear-cut chances, but at Sevilla we have to expect more. We were able to make the most of an error from the opponent though."

Finally, he praised the players that came into the team as he made some changes: "If if we didn't make changes, the players would get injured. We will keep on doing this, trying to play the best team every time and also thinking about who needs a rest."