Julen Lopetegui: “We were better than Madrid in the second half in terms of football,”

Sevilla manager Julen Lopetegui spoke to the media after his team lost to Real Madrid at the Sanchez Pizjuan on Saturday night.

One of the talking points was his substitutions as his team gained momentum in the second half. Our own Kiyan Sobhani asked Lopetegui about what Suso brought to his team offensively off the bench:

“He’s been injured for many games, but fortunately he has already recovered,” Lopetegui said. “He couldn’t play from the start, but he’s been very good. He missed the goal, but he gave us a jump, which we needed offensively”

Lopetegui felt very confident that his side were the better team in the second half, and that they didn’t deserve to lose.

“We subdued Madrid in the second half, but we couldn’t find a way to goal,” Lopetegui continued. “We lacked clarity, and they scored with the only chance they had.”

“We were better than Madrid in the second half in terms of football,” he said. “But we couldn’t do the most important thing - score.

“Their goal came when we were at our best, but they blocked the space and we lacked something with our decision-making.

“Then we had shots and just missed, like from Suso. We weren’t able to score and we’re disappointed.”