"Barcelona and Real Madrid never slip up" - Sampaoli
The Sevilla coach discussed his squad in the build-up to his side's crunch trip to Alavés on Monday.
Sevilla coach Jorge Sampaoli discussed his side's upcoming game against Alavés on Monday (20:45 CET), a must-win tie if the Andalusian club want to stay within touching distance of Barcelona and Real Madrid in the title race.
Monday's game
"Beyond the novelty of playing on a Monday, the need to win doesn't change so we can stay in touching distance at the top of the table. It's a difficult place to play, and, regardless of the other sides' results, we always need to win".
Barça and Madrid
"They never falter and have top quality players. We have to appreciate being up there competing against them. We want to stay in touch at the top".
Nasri's absence
"It's a big loss but, with the quality we have, we'll try to make sure his absence doesn't leave us short in attack so we can put pressure on Alavés".
Vázquez
"We need Franco to play the way we know he can. Players' drop in form can be related to many things; hopefully he'll be on the top of his game for the rest of the season".
Missed penalties
"We take each aspect seriously and the players practice in training. However, there are pressure situations in games. We've tried changing the penalty takers but unfortunately it hasn't changed the final result".
Leicester
"They've had a big change, emotionally, since the first leg and that will make them a strong opponent in the second. However, we've got two games before then and we are going to evaluate everything, thinking about those games before and not just on Leicester".
Sevilla's 18-man squad
Sergio Rico, David Soria, Mariano, Pareja, Rami, Mercado, Lenglet, Escudero, Nzonzi, Kranevitter, Iborra, Franco Vázquez, Vitolo, Sarabia, Montoya, Correa, Ben Yedder and Jovetic.
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