Joaquín Caparrós attends the club's official media

First team

CAPARRÓS: 'IT'LL BE AN OPEN TIE, BUT WE'RE OPTIMISTIC'

17/12/2018

The club's Director of Football spoke about the UEFA Europa League draw, which put Sevilla up against Lazio: 'We're in our competition and we're ready'

Joaquín Caparrós spoke about the draw of the Round of 32 which put Sevilla FC against Lazio. The Director of Football said he was 'pleasantly surprised' with the draw as they 'have three or four players who have been at Sevilla and even a youth graduate in Luis Alberto... It will be an open tie against a team who plays similarly to us and is having a good season, we have to put in two good performances. We're in our competition and we're ready.'

Asked about the challenge Lazio will pose, Caparrós stated 'what's done is done, we can't stew over it any more. It's a competition where we find ourselves at ease, as do our fans, and we have to be optimistic, but always maintaining the logical respect you must have against a good, experienced team. But we're on the up and we hope that by the time the tie arrives the manager will have the whole squad available to him and he can pick the best eleven.'

The return leg will be in the Sánchez-Pizjuán, something which Caparrós prefers: 'I've always thought that it's a plus to play the return leg here, in our stadium, in front of our fans. Also, we'll know what we have to do based on the result of the first leg.'