Unai Emery has made it clear to his Sevilla players that “the reward for beating Barca is the same as beating Eibar” on Saturday.
The Andalucians defeated the champions 2-1 a fortnight ago to record back-to-back wins in La Liga, both of which were their first of the season, but have yet to win on the road ahead of their trip to Ipurua.
“The reward for beating Barca is the same as beating Eibar,” the Coach said at a Press conference.
“Our challenge isn’t to win at Barcelona, it’s to win again at Eibar [on Saturday].
“Eibar have only lost one game this season. Their La Liga story reads little, but it reads a lot at the moment for the 12 points they’ve deservedly earned.
“It’ll be a very difficult match as they are in a great run of form and have a great Coach.
“[Eibar] are playing at a high level of intensity, competing well and pressing a lot with very smart group of players.
“[Adil] Rami and [Ever] Banega are back, but [Gael] Kakuta hasn’t been called up and [Fernando] Llorente is also missing because he only trained [on Friday].
“Beto, [Nicolas] Pareja and [Daniel] Carrico are still recovering, [Sergio] Escudero missed two days [of training] due to a family issue and hasn’t been selected and [Michael] Krohn-Dehli is also out.
“[On Manchester City], for me there’s only Eibar. Getting three points tomorrow is an important step towards restoring our credibility.
“The players have to be up for it. Competing in La Liga creates enthusiasm and there’s nothing which challenges or motivates me more.
“In some respects, we’re below where we want to be. We’re performing well at home but away from home we’ve gone official games without a win.
“It’s a long run without a win and an important part of our evolution stems from being strong away from home, which is what we’ve been over the years.
“[On Raul Gonzalez retiring], he’s contributed greatly to Spanish football and a benchmark for his humility and efforts he has taken in representing Spanish football outside Spain.”
