Iborra, Pareja, Wendt, Johnson on Sevilla-Gladbach

• Vicente Iborra gave Sevilla a 1-0 first-leg victory and puts it down to persistence
• Nicolas Pareja says the holders could be grateful to goalkeeper Sergio Rico
• Mönchengladbach's Oscar Wendt enjoyed the atmosphere but feels they deserved a draw
• Fabian Johnson determined to put things right in the return
• The second leg is next Thursday in Germany, with the last-16 draw the following day

Vicente Iborra, Sevilla midfielder
It was a very tough game against difficult opponents but the most important thing was to win and not concede, and that's what we did. Even though we know we're going to be under the cosh over there, that's normal – we're ready for that. Now it's time to switch our focus and tackle the second leg with everything we have.

It was important not to lose our shape in the first half. They started better, were bringing the ball out well and we maybe weren't positioning ourselves all that well. But we dragged ourselves back into the game and made it harder for them – and then the second half was ours.

In the past maybe the same thing has happened to me [in terms of missing opportunities], but you have to keep trying. If you do that you'll get there in the end and that was the case today – it was third time lucky [with the goal].

Over there we'll have a tough game, but all of us will have to stand up and be counted. At the same time, though, it's nice because there's a lovely prize at stake and we're ready to go there and play a solid game.

Nicolas Pareja (right) in action©AFP/Getty Images

Nicolas Pareja, Sevilla defender
It was a very even game. After rolling with their best punches in the first half, we dominated in the second and found a way to score a goal. The return leg will be one of those you love to play in, because of the atmosphere. That's the kind of setting I enjoy playing in.

Sergio Rico is improving fast and again he's shown his quality between the posts. He continues to take important steps in his upward progression. When I stepped into midfield [in the move that led to the goal] I saw a gap and took advantage of the pace of Diogo [Figueiras] to send a ball forward that he could run onto. I knew he had a good shot on him and it was from his centre that the goal came.

Oscar Wendt, Mönchengladbach midfielder
There was a fantastic atmosphere in the stadium, which was brilliant for both teams to play in. It really felt like a knockout tie, the setting was great. In my opinion the scoreline was unfair, because we played a great game. We were up against a very good side, they were at home and we were away, but we kept the ball really well, had some great spells and created enough good chances for a difficult away game.

Oscar Wendt challenges Aleix Vidal©AFP/Getty Images

We made maybe three big chances, one of which was a very clear one for me, so we should have scored. Then they went and scored a goal that we shouldn't have conceded. I think we did more than enough tonight to get at least a 1-1 draw, but unfortunately it didn't happen.

Of course there's still everything to play for. We may have lost 1-0 but there's still hope for us – we proved today we belong at this level and showed everybody we're a team to reckon with. We're very strong at home, so if we keep going and build on the performance today we'll have a great chance back at Gladbach.

Fabian Johnson, Mönchengladbach midfielder
I think we put a lot of effort into the game and were unlucky not to score. They only had one or two shots on target and scored one, so you could say that's bad luck for us, but since we didn't score ourselves you have to say they deserved to win.

[For my first-half chance] Raffael played a great ball through their defence and I was just trying to get it on target and lift it over the goalkeeper, but he made a great stop and unfortunately it didn't go in.

The atmosphere was great tonight and our supporters were unbelievable. So many people came here, we really appreciate the efforts they made in coming to support us, so I'd like to give them a big thank you from us all. There's still everything to play for in this tie and we're going to give everything to win the game next week. We're great at home and just have to score once to level the tie and then go from there.