Showing posts with label Unai Emery. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Unai Emery. Show all posts

Thursday, 5 May 2016

Sevilla v Shakhtar Donetsk - Preview

Unai Emery - Getty Images
Sevilla coach Unai Emery believes it will be a big ask for the Europa League champions to reach the final despite their slender advantage over Shakhtar Donetsk.

Kevin Gameiro's late penalty earned Sevilla a 2-2 draw in Ukraine in last week's semi-final first leg and the two sides meet again on Thursday.

Those away goals mean a goalless draw will be enough for Sevilla to progress.

Sevilla will be without midfielder Michael Krohn-Dehli after he was taken off on a stretcher in the first leg with a serious knee injury.

For Shakhtar, Marcio Azevedo is out because of a knee problem, while Dentinho and Oleksandr Hladkyy are doubtful.

The Europa League represents Sevilla's only chance of playing in next season's Champions League after a run of just one win in seven La Liga games ended their league hopes.

Shakhtar, meanwhile, are in good form. They are unbeaten in their previous 10 games, winning seven of them.

The winner of Thursday's semi-final second leg will meet either Liverpool or Villarreal in the final at Basel's St Jakob-Park stadium on 18 May.

Unai Emery, Sevilla coach
To get to a final you have to take your chances. We need to give our opponents as few of them as possible. Both sides want to get to the final and it will be a very even game.

We're expecting the best Shakhtar there is – they won the tournament in 2009 and they're used to winning their league. Their coach is much more experienced than I am. It is a big ask – they'll be 90 tough minutes and we need to be ready for it.

Mircea Lucescu, Shakhtar coach
In Lviv we had a very good first half but failed to convert several counterattacks. Our biggest mistake, though, was that in the second period we sat back on our 2-1 lead, content to keep it that way until the end of the match.

It will be a complicated second leg. Sevilla are European specialists. There aren't many youngsters; it's all experienced players. And they are headed by a strong coach who does his homework on opponents and never fails to put his game plan across


Thursday, 28 April 2016

Shaktar Donetsk v Sevilla - Preview

Getty Images
Sevilla will continue their bid for a third consecutive Europa League title when they play Shakhtar Donetsk in Thursday's semi-final first leg.

The Spanish side, winners in 2014 and 2015, like Shakhtar entered this year's competition after being knocked out at the Champions League group stage.

The match will be staged in Lviv, where Shakhtar have had to play home games.

They have been unable to play in their home ground in Donetsk due to the ongoing conflict in eastern Ukraine. Lviv lies nearly 800km to the west of Donetsk.

Uefa Cup winners in 2009, Shakhtar saw domestic rivals Dynamo Kiev claim their Ukrainian league title on Sunday.

They last met Sevilla in 2007, when the Spanish side's goalkeeper scored an injury-time equaliser to send their Uefa Cup last-16 tie into extra time.

Sevilla went on to win their second successive title and now have the most Europa League titles in history with four in total.

Mircea Lucescu
It is very important to maintain a high performance level. Shakhtar have reached it by lifting the UEFA Cup [in 2009] and now we are in the Europa League semi-finals. Other eastern teams like CSKA [Moskva], Zenit, Galatasaray all won the UEFA Cup but none managed a semi-final after it, none of them repeated their success. I'm very proud of my players and of the team.

We've shown some clips of the two games [against Sevilla in the 2007 UEFA Cup round of 16] to the players. We had ten seconds left! Sevilla went on to win the UEFA Cup. I think they just got lucky. Let's hope the luck they had then now passes to us; everything in life balances itself out.

Unai Emery, Sevilla coach
We're enjoying every moment, we have so much energy right now. Shakhtar's record in the last ten years is spectacular but they have lost important players along the way. We've got to the semi-finals three years in a row and are thinking only of getting through.

We're in great form at the moment. Our players' eyes are open, they are excited, and I think the team is united. We are well aware that we have an opportunity to make history.