Rutten thrilled to pass Sevilla test

• Fred Rutten thrilled with the 2-0 win against a "top-level opponent"
• Sevilla coach Unai Emery believes defeat is a natural part of his team's development
• "With the crowd behind us, anything is possible," says goalscorer Karim El Ahmadi
• Next games: Standard v Feyenoord, Sevilla v Rijeka (11 December)

Fred Rutten, Feyenoord coach
This was a really top European game. It was a big game, certainly for Feyenoord, against a top-level opponent, so beating them 2-0 is an excellent result. Sevilla played their typical game: dangerous, technically very strong, very disciplined and very fluent with the ball. We managed to negate that very well. We had less of the ball than in previous games, but we certainly defended very well today. That was the way we intended to play and we did so very well.

We all had our minds set on qualifying in the last group match [against R. Standard de Liège] so to have already achieved that really is a job well done. But that last group game will still be a very important experience for our young players and I am sure none of them will want to be rested for that match. They're all keen to play. 

Karim El Ahmadi, Feyenoord midfielder
We knew we would be through if we won, so the most important thing was to win today. It was nice to score, but winning against the Europa League holders is the best thing. We had a bit of luck with the first goal – the ball bounced around and fell to [Jean-Paul] Boëtius's feet; he dealt with it very well and Jens [Toornstra] finished brilliantly.

Jens Toornstra (C) after making it 1-0©AFP/Getty Images

I know that Colin Kazım Richards often wins his duels in the air, so I stayed close to him and he passed the ball on to me. I didn't waste any time thinking, I just shot immediately. Luckily the keeper was slightly out of his goal so I could lift the ball over him.

Our coach and the technical staff really stressed that a victory here could get us through and we saw that with the crowd behind us, anything is possible. We have to remain confident and keep in mind that here at home a lot can be achieved. 

Terence Kongolo, Feyenoord defender
Apart from a few small moments we had good possession. Sevilla were waiting for us to make mistakes and make the most of their chances on the break; they are very good at that type of game. After we took the lead we were under pressure, but the second goal gave us a bit of breathing space.

In the end Sevilla didn't create many real opportunities, but you have to stay focused until the very last minute. I think we did well as a team and we didn't concede many chances. I always say: expect the unexpected. We saw that today with our victory against a great team which enabled us to qualify.

Unai Emery, Sevilla coach
We certainly tried tonight and we came here with the right intentions, but we didn't create enough up front in the first half. The second half was a bit better and when we conceded that first goal, you could really see we didn't give up and wanted to push on. But things were over for us after that second goal.

We had a lot of good results at the start of this season which led to expectations being a bit too high perhaps. This is a team with a lot of young and new players, with some of them still lacking a bit of experience in Europe, so it’s normal to lose occasionally. That is natural in the development of a team.