LOPETEGUI: 'TO FINISH FIRST WE'LL HAVE TO BEAT A TEAM WHO COULD WIN THE TROPHY ITSELF'

01/12/2020

'We want to keep growing as a team,' Lopetegui underlined

Sevilla FC's manager, Julen Lopetegui, appeared before the media this Tuesday afternoon in the pre-match press conference ahead of tomorrow's game against Chelsea FC. The Basque coach started by stating 'it's a huge and exciting challenge against a team who could win the Champions League. They are the best attacking team in England at the moment, they have great players. It's a real excitement to play against them and it motivates us to play our best.'

'I see the team working every day, they're trying their best in spite of the difficulty of this season and the injuries we have. We want to keep working and growing as a team against a very strong opponent who we'll need to be at our absolute best to beat.' Lopetegui showed pride in his position at the Club: 'To walk out onto the Sánchez-Pizjuán is special in any moment, even more so when it's full of our fans. It's always been an honour and a pleasure to sit on the bench at this stadium.'

'The intensity of the games and the Covid calendar hasn't been kind to us, but we fully trust the players we have'

Regarding the squad to face Chelsea tomorrow, Lopetegui confirmed 'we will have a training session tomorrow morning and we will see if we can include a couple of players who couldn't train today, but we'll have to wait until tomorrow. The intensity of the games and the Covid calendar hasn't been kind to us, but we fully trust the players we have.' Speaking about first place in the group being up for grabs, Lopetegui said 'it wouldn't be a failure to finish behind Chelsea. Our goal is to finish first but to do so we must beat a team who could win the trophy itself.'

Lopetegui continued by answering some questions about the team's form: 'I don't like to wonder about whether we're arriving in a good or bad moment. We're arriving in the moment we're arriving in and we work from that. The most important thing, more so than how you arrive at a game, is what you do during it. We'll have to see if we're able to put a stop to all of Chelsea's attacks. Even if we were to win we still have the game against Rennes, nothing is decided tomorrow. We will focus on the game and make sure we are in the best shape for it.'

'We will have to wait to tomorrow to make a decision on some players'

To finish, the coach made it clear that 'nobody has been taken out of the fold, everyone is important here. Lucas and Luuk have had a slight injury and we will have to wait to tomorrow to make some decisions. In normal times you go day by day, this season we have to go hour by hour.'