Unai Emery was left pleased with Sevilla’s 2-1 defeat to Atletico Madrid on Thursday, for the fact it was achieved with only nine men.
A bizarre first leg Copa del Rey semi-final at the Vicente Calderon saw all three goals scored from penalties awarded for handling offences.
At the same time, Diego Godin for Atleti and Emir Spahic and Fernando Navarro were all sent off during the game.
“From my position it is very difficult to assess whether or not the plays were all penalties,” Emery began, having been pushed post-match for a reaction to the refereeing.
“I’ve seen stronger calls and I’ve seen lighter punishments too, but I do not want to judge anyone, I could not see the moves clearly.
“The 2-1 is deserved, but when it was 1-1 we were very controlled. The penalty and second red card has meant that we had to take this as a good result for the return leg.
“We knew that Atletico are having a great season and we had to be very focused to get a result. It was a tough game, very demanding.”
