Unai Emery reflected on Sevilla’s 1-1 Europa League draw with Estoril by claiming simply qualifying for the next stage was not enough.
Kevin Gameiro gave the Andalusians an early lead only for Ruben Fernandes’ to equalise for the Portuguese outfit in the 89th minute.
However, Emery was not content with the performance despite his team having already secured a place in the Last 32 of the competition.
“We found ourselves with two situations. One was that we had mathematically qualified, although we were not assured of first place, and the other was that we lacked something in attack,” Emery told reporters post-match.
“The only debate should be about winning or not winning and we had to work on two fronts, which were strengthening the team in defence and being more consistent in attack.
“But Estoril worked well as a team. When they had the ball they used it well and we found it difficult to get it off them.
“We respect them greatly because they did well collectively and wanted to take the game to us.”
Nonetheless, Emery admitted that right now the Europa League is not top of his list of priorities.
“We started the competition very strongly in order to qualify, but lately we’ve needed more in La Liga and that has taken priority.
“Although we wanted to be equally strong in both, it is something we have not been able to do,” he lamented.
