RAKITIC: "SOMETIMES IT'S HARD TO EXPLAIN WHAT HAS HAPPENED"

Ivan Rakitic shared his frustration following tonight's draw with Villarreal and discussed the need not to give up the search for the victory: "After 20 years in football, you think you've seen it all in football, time and again. The dressing room, the fans, nobody who loves Sevilla deserves this. We tried really hard today. I think we had 17 shots. It felt like we dominated their area, but you have to face the truth. We can be proud, because even if things don't work out, we are doing our best. We have to keep going, keep pushing and there's nothing left to do but say thank you to our fans. They supported us in an incredible way and together we are going to get out of this, because the team does a lot of things well. Sometimes it's difficult to explain what happens. but the team has a positive mentality even though it hurts."

Kike Salas's was left feeling bittersweet after the match. Discussing his goal: "I like to get into the box and finish, I feel comfortable there. It came to me and it was a good goal.". However, he didn't have time to savour it: "We had just scored and the following unlucky play led to their goal. It was a mistake by the whole team and we have to try to avoid those counterattacks and let them create such dangerous chances." Finally, he analysed the goal disallowed against Brereton Díaz: "It's clear that he touched me from behind. I couldn't follow the run and I told the referee as such. It's a good thing he called the foul at the end, because it was very clear. It's a shame that we lost the three points because we need them more than ever. We're still fighting though and I'm sure they'll come."

Finally, Nianzou spoke about the match where he returned to the starting XI for the first time in months: "We played a good game, but the result didn't go our way, so we have to keep going. I felt good, but we have to keep moving forward."