Emery praises Sevilla ‘faith’

Unai Emery said his Sevilla players ‘had to have faith’ after the Andalusians scraped into the Europa League semi-finals on Thursday night.

Bringing a 2-1 advantage into the quarter-final second leg clash at Zenit St. Petersburg, Emery’s men extended it through an early Carlos Bacca penalty before Jose Rondon’s equaliser and a superb Hulk goal levelled the tie.

The hosts then looked favourites to go through, but it was Sevilla who stole it when Kevin Gameiro fired into the bottom corner on 85 minutes to put Los Rojiblancos into the final four once again.

“I wasn’t thinking of extra-time and we had to have faith we’d get find a second goal, which we did,” Emery told reporters post-match.

“Was it a miracle? No, because we worked hard and had to search for the moment. We managed to play our game despite the difficulties we faced and I knew it wasn’t going to be easy.

“I’m really pleased and proud of all my players. Zenit are a great team that naturally didn’t make it easy, but we overcame moments of suffering and were able to deal them a final blow.

“It’s true that our goalkeeper Beto did not do too well for their goals but he later made some good saves that allowed us to go through. He’s a player of great experience and very important to us.

“Sevilla will be celebrating this victory and for that we have to thank everyone.”

Emery says he is unconcerned which team Los Rojiblancos face in the semi-finals, with Dnipro, Fiorentina and Napoli all having qualified.

“It doesn’t matter because the draw has thrown up great teams for us to face since the Last 32, so we’ll be ready for anyone. There are no soft teams left,” he added.

Tags Emery Zenit St Petersburg
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