Unai Emery believes Sevilla were the authors of their own downfall on Sunday night, losing 3-1 to Atletico Madrid at home.
Diego Perotti managed to cancel out Diego Costa’s opener in this Week 1 fixture for a level score at the break, only for the Brazilian and Cristian Rodriguez late on to decide the game in Atleti’s favour.
“This was a game of two distinct halves,” commented Emery post-match.
“In the first half, whilst we equalised, we were worse, whilst in the second half we were better. In the first half we had too many turnovers. We wanted to control the game by not losing the ball, we did that well but only on a few occasions, and gave away the ball too often, giving away four or five corners and from one of those they have scored.
“Then we reacted. In the second half, we came out with the idea of having more possession, we needed to be aggressive, so that they did not have the ability to counterattack in the second half, and we succeeded.
“The more I thought we controlled the game, with the greater chances to win, was when we needed to score the second goal.
“We had our position under control, but with another turnover we conceded the second…we must analyse this fast and recover.
“To the fans I convey to continue with the same ambition, we have just begun and will work to keep their dreams intact.”
