Julen Lopetegui during the press conference before Atlético de Madrid

LOPETEGUI: "IT'S A GREAT CHALLENGE TO GET THE WIN IN A GAME LIKE TOMORROW'S"

06/03/2020
"We have full confidence in those that are available. This is football, we can't stop for one second to moan about anything"

Sevilla FC's head coach, Julen Lopetegui, gave his habitual press conference this afternoon before tomorrow's clash against Atlético de Madrid, which will be Matchday 27 of La Liga. He started off by speaking about the absence of Fernando: "We have players out, we can't do anything about that; we have to focus on the ones we have available. The most important thing is that we have full trust in the ones that are available. We can't stop for one second to moan about anything. This is football and these things happen. We have full confidence in those that will make the trip, those that might play and those that will come off the bench".

"We always plan certain things. We are looking for what is the best way to get the three points, which is always the idea. We will play with eleven very good footballers in order to play well, and on top of them we also have the ones who will come off the bench. The team is doing well, with a lot of ambition heading into this special and exciting game. It's a great challenge to get the win in a game like tomorrow's. Every day we get up with the willingness to improve and continue growing as a team to approach each game full of energy. We don't let ourselves get lost in the things that are not under our control".

"We know how hard the game will be, but we're also thinking about how good it would be to come away with a good result"

Talking about the current state of the team, he said: "We're the same as ever. Whenever there's no midweek game, there's more time to prepare... but we're the same as always. What has already happened is in the past and the only things that matter are those that are ahead of us, which right now is only Atlético de Madrid, their stadium, their manager and their fans. We're going with the intention of playing well and getting the three points".

Lopetegui emphasised on the aspects on which the team can improve, and how he would always prefer to play in front of your own fans: "Analysis and statistics don't tell the whole story. Managers don't like these sorts of things. We're doing well, with things to improve on and work on of course. We know how hard the game will be, but we're also thinking about how good it would be to come away with a good result. We try to always play better than we did in the previous game: sometimes this happens, other times it doesn't. We haven't just been booed and whistled, we've also been applauded and we'll be applauded again. I prefer playing home games".

"We believe in ourselves and that we'll play well tomorrow. We know that at the big stadiums, it's always hard to get the win."

Lopetegui finished off his press conference by stating: "We know that at the big stadiums, it's always hard to get the win, it's not easy. However, there's no doubt that we will fight for what we want. We believe in ourselves and that we'll play well tomorrow".