Coke reflects on 'perfect night' for him and Sevilla
Wednesday, May 18, 2016
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Coke and Vitolo both credited Unai Emery as the mastermind behind Sevilla's comeback win in Basel on a night that could scarcely have been better for the skipper.
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Coke, Sevilla captain and man of the match
All in all it's been a perfect night for all Sevilla fans and also for me, because I'm not really used to scoring goals. Scoring two in a final is something I'll remember for the rest of my life. There are matches where this can happen, and I was lucky to be playing in a final and have it happen there.
The match was actually pretty difficult. Liverpool scored the opening goal in the last few minutes of the first half, and that hurt us a lot. But I think we came out after the half-time break really motivated, with a lot of desire and confidence. Luckily we equalised in the very first moments of the second half, and then we scored two more.
We know that Liverpool are known for their historic comebacks, and they managed to turn around their tie against Dortmund so we were also thinking about that, we didn't want to let that happen. We knew we couldn't ease up at all.
At half-time our coach said we should imagine we were playing at home. Today the majority of stands were in English hands, but you could still hear the Spanish fans more, and after that the first goal we just felt like we were playing at home. We attacked better, and we were dangerous on the counter.
Vitolo, Sevilla midfielder
Liverpool are a great team. Up front they have some quality players, and it was hard to stop them. They managed to take the lead, but we stayed calm, and I think in the second half we were the better side – the quick equaliser gave us the boost we needed. The coach told us that our moment in the game would come, and that's what happened.
The most important thing with this team is our mental attitude. When everything looks bad, and they are well ahead, we keep a cool head and carry on. We got a chance in the second half, and we grabbed it. Our first goal really hurt them, especially because it was so early in the second half. We were missing some confidence, but that changed after the goal.
What the team has done in these three years is incredible, all of the finals we've played. Winning the Europa League three times in a row will be very hard for anyone to repeat. And of course if you don't make it into a final, you can't win it. We have ambition to win them all.