SAMPAOLI: "THE TEAM'S OVERALL PROGRESS MUST GIVE US THE CHANCE TO TAKE OFF"

Jorge Sampaoli appeared at the pre-match press conference ahead of facing FC Copenhagen at home. The Sevilla coach, accompanied by Alex Telles, firstly said that "I agree with Alex that every game is like a final. Mallorca was a final, Madrid was a final, tomorrow against Copenhagen is the same and the team's overall progress must give us the chance to take off."

He was asked about the absence of Bono in training and the return of Rekik or Acuña, among other things: "Bono will have to be assessed to see how he is, as we're still waiting on a scan, Rekik had his second training session and Acuña had a slight improvement on his lingering injury and we are going to try to get him back to balance our numbers in attack and defence."

"Fernando has an illness that he is not quite over and has left him a doubt for Tuesday night but he will be back in training on Wednesday, and we're hoping he will be able to take part. We prefer that he takes a rest and recovers so that he arrives with full energy on Wednesday."

As for the development of his squad, he stated that "I understand that there is room for improvement in terms of what we want from the game. The team was on equal terms against Madrid, against Valencia it didn't happen due to the context of the match, but improvements have to be accompanied by results and we have to resolve this as soon as possible. Tomorrow we'll have to use the players who are less worn out and tomorrow and Saturday there will probably be changes as playing with fresh players will give us a more competitive level."

With regard to the last game at the Bernabéu, he stressed that "We're still disappointed as we were nine minutes away from being able to get a draw or even win the game, with two unforced errors when we were at our best. But we have to continue to build on what we're best at and through that continue to grow, we have to deepen our style and be aggressive in the final third with both the quality and quantity of our attacks. We had several chances to take the lead against Madrid, and we have to continue to put ourselves in the position where we have these chances."

The coach then focused on individuals, as is waiting to see players such as Dolberg, Januzaj, Rafa Mir, Delaney and Joan Jordán hit top form.

"When I spoke about Dolberg it's because I came up against him when he was at Nice. He has to work to make his strengths even stronger, he's got real ability."

"Rafa Mir is a player who looks towards goal and is a really good finisher, he played well against Valencia, although his mistake against Real Madrid has nothing to do with that because he made a mistake with the pass. I spoke to him afterwards and I told him that it was not his fault. We need to structure the way we play to this new style of play and it's going to take a bit of time."

"As for Jordán, I think he's improving, the other day as the match progressed it was him who understood how to play, he allowed us some relief during the match and he took a big step forward."

"As for Januzaj, he's very talented and has great individual skill, but with the club's current form and the group's commitment, both he and everyone will get closer to the pace that's required, I need to get him there as soon as possible."

"Delaney is in a process of changing his style of play, he has seniority and he'll be important if we play him." 

To finish, he spoke about his excitement at tomorrow's match and the opponents.

"It doesn't cross my mind that we'll lose, I'm very excited about tomorrow's match no matter who plays. Copenhagen defend with a lot of players, they're very organized and they're good in transition. We have to be patient, because we'll have a bad night if we aren't. They drew against the best team in the world and that should make us pay attention."