Marcelino wished former club Sevilla “every success in defending their title” after they eliminated Villarreal from the Europa League on Thursday.
The Yellow Submarine had a mountain to climb in order to reach the quarter-finals following their 3-1 home defeat in the first leg of their last-16 tie, and it proved to be the case as goals from Vicente Iborra and Denis Suarez cancelled out Giovani dos Santos’ momentary equaliser.
“[Sevilla overcame us because] they scored the most goals in both games and we lacked creativity,” the Coach said after the game.
“They retreated heavily at their stadium because they took a very favourable lead [from the first leg].
“We created some early chances and got some shots off from outside the box, but almost all of them went to Sergio Rico.
“Then, as time passed and Sevilla went 1-0 up, we tried to follow them but we knew it’d be difficult.
“We came [into the match] on the back of a very, very adverse outcome [in the first leg], and much of the tie was already decided in the first leg.
“I’m sorry that we’re out of Europe, but we should have already started thinking about the League again.
“[On returning to play against Sevilla again on Sunday], we’ll have much wear but we’ll nonetheless try to compete at our stadium and see if we’re a third time lucky.
“I thank wholeheartedly the 2,000 fans who followed us. I especially wish we could have made the quarters for them, but it wasn’t to be.
“We played very tough opponents, but this is a very good experience for the future. The Europa League is very competitive.
“I wish Sevilla every success [in defending their title]. They’re a highly-skilled and competitive who can go far [in the competition].”
