Sevilla coach Julen Lopetegui: Barcelona improved since Copa win | OneFootball

Icon: Tribal Football

Tribal Football

·27 February 2021

Sevilla coach Julen Lopetegui: Barcelona improved since Copa win

Article image:Sevilla coach Julen Lopetegui: Barcelona improved since Copa win

Sevilla coach Julen Lopetegui says they must up their performance against Barcelona today.

Lopetegui has made clear that he is expecting a different Barcelona side on Saturday from the one his team beat in the first leg of their Copa del Rey semi-final on February 10.


OneFootball Videos


The Estadio Ramon Sanchez-Pizjuan is once again the setting for this match, but four days later the two teams will face off at the Camp Nou in the second leg of their Copa tie.

"We're not looking at any other game than the one in front of us," Lopetegui stated during Friday's pre-match press conference.

"We have to concentrate on what we have to do tomorrow against a team that will force us to play a better game than the one we played.

"They've got players back at all levels and with the quality they have, there's not much more to say.

"I have no doubt that we will have a great opponent in front of us."

Given Sevilla's 2-0 win over Barcelona in the Copa, could Lopetegui look at this as a method for beating Ronald Koeman's team?

"They are going to be two very different games," he said, referencing the LaLiga Santander match followed by the Copa one a few days later.

"All the [games] that have finished can act as a reference for some things and others [for things] that you haven't done well. As is the case for them.

"We will all try to evolve in this second game. We're very excited, very demanding and we have to be ready."

View publisher imprint