Julen Lopetegui in the press conference ahead of CD Ciudad de Lucena

LOPETEGUI: 'THEY WILL PLAY THE GAME OF THEIR LIVES. THERE ARE NO SECOND CHANCES'

14/12/2020
'Every game is a final in the Copa del Rey and that's how we will prepare for it'

Julen Lopetegui, Sevilla FC's manager, attended the media this Monday afternoon ahead of tomorrow's cup match against CD Ciudad de Lucena. The coach began by speaking about the recent Champions League draw which paired the team with Borussia Dortmund: 'We'll be up against an incredible team, a historic German club with world-class players. In the last-16 every team is full of quality. They alternate between two systems and are incredibly quick, not to mention their technical and tactical level. We will have to be at our absolute best.'

Returning to the Cup, Lopetegui underlined 'the most important things today and tomorrow is the Cup. We can't wait and with the new format every match is a final. That makes it even more difficult and we go into the game knowing there is no room for error. We will have to play well, they are a well-worked team and have some interesting players.'

'We will have to be at our best, we fully respect our opponent and want to progress'

'Given the format of the competition every match is a final, every team plays it with that mentality. Lucena are a well-worked team and they will play the game of their life. We will have to be ready for them, respect them and that will help us progress to the next round,' he continued regarding the team from Córdoba.

'We are obviously less used to an artificial pitch than Lucena but we will adapt'

Lopetegui also spoke about the congested fixture list: 'It's so difficult with such little time. From 21 September we haven't had more than three days of training in a row. That's the reality of this season. We have such little time but it is what it is and we can't change it, we can only adapt to the situation and look for solutions to make it as smooth as possible for the team.'

Our coach also spoke about how the match would be played on artificial grass tomorrow: 'It's another thing we'll have to adapt to. We're obviously less used to it than Lucena but we will adapt. The Cup is always full of surprises and we are ready for tomorrow's final, there are no second chances. That's the mentality we need to have.'

To finish, Lopetegui said there would be some injury problems tomorrow: 'We have lost a couple more players to injury and we haven't got any back yet. We'll have to wait until tomorrow to see what XI we can put out.'