Sevilla captain Ivan Rakitic has called on his side to trust each other ahead of their clash with Manchester United in the Europa League, while admitting that they’ve suffered most types of misfortune already this season.
Los Nervionenses travel to Manchester to face the Red Devils at 21:00 CEST, with Jose Luis Mendilibar taking charge of just his third game with Sevilla. It is his third European tie in his career too, after losing to Cluj 6-4 on aggregate with Athletic Club in 2005 in the Intertoto Cup.
Speaking to Diario AS ahead of the game, Rakitic saw the game as an opportunity for Sevilla to reassert themselves.
“It will be a very tough game but also very beautiful, to be able to grow a lot. We are going to fight to the maximum to get a great result for the return, in front of our people, at the Sanchez-Pizjuan. But I know that we are going to have the respect of United, because of the great history that Sevilla has in this competition.”
In his mind, the biggest task for Sevilla is to ensure they do not make life harder for themselves.
“Do not make mistakes, the most important thing. Every mistake in this type of encounter is punished, you cannot afford to be foolish. We are already in the quarter-finals and the best of the best are there. There is very little to go until the end. We have to play the best game possible and trust ourselves as much as possible.”
While he did admit that more or less everything that could have gone wrong this season already has, when asked if Sevilla needed to avoid further misfortune.
“Well yes. It’s already been three coaches, many injuries, many red cards… What else can happen to us this year now? It is not what any of us wanted, but hopefully we will move forward.”
Sevilla go into the tie missing two of their key central midfielders, giving the experienced Rakitic a good shot at starting. The 35-year-old started in Mendilibar’s first game against Cadiz, a 2-0 win, but was kept on the bench as they drew 2-2 with Celta Vigo last Friday.
