Defeat never in question for Ramos

Although Juande Ramos saw his side relinquish a two-goal lead in the UEFA Cup quarter-final second leg at Tottenham Hotspur FC, the Sevilla FC coach insisted the holders were never in danger of missing out on a semi-final place. Tottenham counterpart Martin Jol concurred, admitting the second goal had "effectively eliminated" his team, despite late strikes making the scoreline more palatable - a 4-3 aggregate defeat.

Juande Ramos, Sevilla coach
When they scored it was difficult. We were under the cosh but we managed to take control. If they had scored a third, the crowd would have been behind them and it would have been difficult. I think it was clear after the second goal that Tottenham would make it difficult, but my players were mentally strong and there was never any danger of losing. The opening minutes of the match are always important and we took the game to Spurs and it silenced the crowd. We know [CA] Osasuna very well. We've played them twice in the Spanish Cup and we will have to play hard to reach the final for a second year.

Martin Jol, Tottenham manager
If you play like that and concede a goal in the second minute, then it's more than a big blow. It was still doable but it was a big shock to go 2-0 down and, if I'm honest, they effectively eliminated us then. In the second half we did better and if [Michael] Dawson had scored when it was 2-2, it would have been a different game. The first goal was an own goal that could have been prevented. If we hadn't conceded the first goal then we could have gone through, but Sevilla are a very good team who have beaten [FC] Barcelona twice. We have to learn from this - you can't concede goals like that at this level.