MENDILIBAR: "TOMORROW WE HAVE TO RUN AND HAVE TO SUFFER"

José Luis Mendilibar appeared in front of the media to preview the match against Real Madrid. The Sevilla FC manager, who spoke at the 'Open Media Day' for the UEFA Europa League of his side not taking their eyes off of league matches, firstly stated that "the idea is the same as the last few matches. A few players will keep their place in the side and the ones that do will not play the full 90 minutes. During the game things happen, sometimes what you thought you could do you cannot, but we plan to make several changes." 

He spoke about what it means to face the side from the capital, referring to matters that go beyond the pitch: "We have many important matches and we have only had two days to think about them. We are now focused on Real Madrid, and just on their sporting abilities, on what they will bring and how we should face them. We have to treat it like a normal match, but the focus for others is elsewhere. We have to try to win to keep on moving up the table, trying to compete and making sure nothing frustrating happens, like a red card or an injury. We are playing against a great side, who will want to make sure they come second in the league."

He mentioned the state of the squad with less than a week to go to another European final: "We normally concentrate day-to-day, but we are also thinking about the final and assessing which players are alright to play for a bit and others who aren't. But as I say, things can happen that disrupt your plans. At the end of the day, if the players aren't giving their all against Real Madrid, those same players will not start against Roma. You have got to compete, if you only run 2 kilometres in an hour that doesn't mean you won't get injured, when you don't give your all you can often suffer from an injury. You can get injured when you give your all, but I think players who put the effort in will be fine."

And with regard to the motivation for his players, he highlighted how "our opponents helps the lads get motivated. We don't want to be poor against Real Madrid, I'm not sure how they will approach this match, but we have to run and suffer. Every footballer has a love of winning." 

"Sometimes it doesn't matter too much if you don't train, because the competition keeps you in shape"

Speaking about his own players, he was asked about Pape Gueye and his red card the other day: "I imagine that it will have affected him and he should feel that. We have said that he needs to change the way he plays given that he has been sent off three times. He goes for the ball, but he knocks into the opponent and I think he has seen he can't do that, and he has learnt his lesson."

Furthermore, he replied to questions on the absentees at Thursday's training session: "En-Nesyri, Badé and Fernando. Of these three, two will be called into the squad and one will play. Sometimes it doesn't matter too much if you don't train, because the competition keeps you in shape." And on Tecatito, the Basque coach assured that "we wanted him to play a bit more than he has, but the circumstances have meant this is not the case. In Elche Pape was sent off and this meant Tecatito would have had to run a lot and been made to suffer. It's a shame he can't play, he is training well and has a smile on his face. He knows that the season hasn't gone well and I thank him for how he is training despite this, and for the way he approaches each day. He accepted how fir he is and we are all excited to see him back at his best.".

When it came to highlighting the team's commitment, Mendilibar stated that "when we're waiting for a final, everyone wants to be there. It's normal for the injured players to see a little light at the end of the tunnel to try and make it. They're all delighted and I think it's normal for the group to move upwards". On this, he stressed that "we're going to try to put together the line-up, as I say, thinking about Real Madrid and also about Wednesday, with the people we have available. Marcao, Nianzou and Joan could be called up, but I don't know if they will be able to play. I have the line-up planned and it's not going to change anything, whoever the opposition plays." 

To close, he assured that he is not worried about who comes from Real Madrid due to absences in the last session: "The fact that they haven't trained doesn't mean anything. Real Madrid have played a lot of games, we'll have to see who's called up. If there are absentees, that's fine, but it doesn't change anything in our approach".