Unai Emery maintains “winning by a big margin is very difficult” after Sevilla’s 2-0 victory over Segunda side Mirandes in the Copa del Rey quarter-finals.
Goals from Steven N’Zonzi and Vitolo handed the Andalucians a straightforward advantage in the first leg of their tie, but the Coach was forced to fend off criticism that his side should have put their opponents to the sword.
“Winning by a big margin is very difficult, even against a team in La Segunda,” he said after the game.
“Our job [as Coaches] is to analyse our opponents and transfer [that knowledge] to the players.
“Mirandes worked very well, and we had to be patient and know how to play them.
“We understood the difficulty of the game, were eventually able to work out how to overcome our opponents and reached their goal with danger to ensure the result reflected what happened [on the pitch].
“It’s necessary that we pick up from where we left off in the second leg and continue showing [Mirandes] the same respect, while also exploiting our best qualities.
“[Atletico Madrid on Sunday] is an opportunity for us, and we’re going there with all the enthusiasm of winning away from home, which we’ve yet to do so far.
“[Atleti] are huge rivals of ours, in between [Real] Madrid and Barcelona, but these type of games are the ones we want to win.
“It’s a game, in which we can gain credibility away from home. It’s one of the toughest tests remaining this season.”
