Sevilla manager Jose Luis Mendilibar has defended himself ahead of their tie with Manchester United, as he looks for victory in his first European game in 18 years. Mendilibar has managed just one European tie before, a 6-4 aggregate defeat to Cluj while in charge of Athletic Club, but did not think that he was at a great disadvantage.
Ahead of the United clash, Mendilibar defended his work.
“It is my first time after 15 or 16 years in the First Division. It’s as if I’ve won a ticket to be here in the tombola, but if I am here it is because I have done something to make the people who hired me like me.”
Moving on to the game itself, Mendilibar did not want his team to simply defend.
“We have to compete with our weapons, not think only about the rival. They have a very high level, very good players and a big budget, but Sevilla, as the history of the competition says, has known how to play these games despite not starting as a favourite. We can’t speculate. We have to think about winning.”
“We have to be ourselves,” rallied Mendilibar, as covered by Relevo.
“The players know what will be in front of us, but we must go out to win and play in the their half. If we are all the time thinking that we have to be very deep and hope that they don’t score a goal…” said Mendilibar, suggesting that it would not go well for them.
The Basque manager was also pleased with the attitude being shown by his squad, who appear to be responding to him.
“I see the group more and more committed to the cause. I’m not saying it’s better or worse than before, but it’s different. They’re training very well, with a lot of rhythm. All the players are focused on each session.”
Sevilla have four points from their opening two games under Mendilibar so far, beating Cadiz 2-0 and drawing 2-2 with the in-form Cadiz.
While Sevilla have suffered greatly from injuries this season, it is their opponents who are losing players last minute. Marcus Rashford was ruled out of action on Wednesday, while Diario AS say that Scott McTominay will be absent due to injury too.
