Emery: "We must keep the flame of hope alive"

Unai Emery (b. Hondarribia, 3 November 1971) is one of the most charismatic and passionate managers in the Liga BBVA. After making a name for himself at Valencia CF and a brief spell in Russia, the Basque gaffer is in his third campaign at the helm of Sevilla FC, the club that has got back to its best this season through the work of its manager and footballers. After success in the UEFA Europa League last season, Emery reveals his club’s new objectives to LFP.es.

LFP.es: What is your assessment of these opening months of competition?
Emery: We focus our season on the top priority, which is the Liga, for which we need to be consistent and the most goal is to be in Europe next year. We’re on an upward trajectory and we’re excited; we’re on top of our objectives and, though it’s difficult to maintain, we’re determined to do so.

LFP.es: Is it a burden for the team defending the Europa League title?
Emery: The European competitions demand a lot from you. It’s a championship that people here in Seville identify with. Last year we went into it with a lot of humility; at no time were we favourites and in the end we achieved something great for everyone and which made the fans very happy. How we’re serious contenders, teams respect us more, they bear us in mind, but we have to continue with the same humility.

"I try to get better without putting a ceiling on our growth, knowing there will be difficult times"

LFP.es: You go into matches with a great deal of intensity. Is that one of the characteristics of your Sevilla?
Emery: I think character is important. Our team has character and character makes you compete. We try to make sure that the team learns to compete in various scenarios because there are moments when they need to be more defensive or more aggressive. I think that this versatility that the team has, reading the situation correctly, has allowed it to keep growing. That’s the way to go: to keep growing, with a competitive character at different moments without changing our style. A football team and a manager never stop growing and that’s our mentality.

LFP.es: This team has made the best start to the season in its history. How far do you think you can go?
Emery: The rebuilding is done with new players and that’s a challenge, an opportunity that enables you to work on individual and team factors in each player. As a coaching team we’re excited by this. One of the successes you can have as a manager is to win a Europa League, but it’s also the road to winning that Europa League. How to progress, how the team grows, and that’s transformed into results.

LFP.es: When you had to patch up the team because of absences such as Ivan Rakitić did you expect Sevilla to be where it is?
Emery: The expectations you have in your mind must always be positive, so that you can then work towards these, and in the end you meet them to a greater or lesser extent. I don’t know where I expected us to be in August but the expectation I always have about the future is the conviction that things will happen for us. What I try to do is to get better without putting a ceiling on our growth, knowing there will be difficult times.

"We’re determined to qualify for the Champions League" 

LFP.es: Are you surprised by how well Denis Suárez and Gerard Deulofeu have adapted?
Emery: Sevilla has a track record of producing this kind of footballer, instilling hard work and dedication in them so they grow. I’m very happy with them, with their contribution, with their desire and they youth, which spurs on the team. It’s a process that requires patience, because Denis and Deulofeu are not footballer who are made in a month or a year, they will need more time. I think they’re taking steps forward and they have keep taking them to grow in what they contribute to Sevilla.

LFP.es: Despite the good start, against FC Barcelona and Atlético Madrid it wasn’t to be; what went wrong in those matches?
Emery: Regardless of whether we could have played better against Barcelona or Atlético, they showed that there are differences. They played against a Sevilla that was an immediate rival at the time and they played with a lot of intensity. With Barcelona the same thing happened; if we’d beaten them we would’ve overtaken them and they played with greater intensity because they saw us as an immediate rival. But we’re not immediate rivals. These teams buy ready-made players and we sign players with work still to do. We have to take our path, be happy with that path, be determined and stir the emotions of the fans.

LFP.es: In this last period Reyes also seems to have returned to his best. Will he be very important going into the second half of the season?
Emery: Reyes is a footballer who has a way of playing that we need. He’s a player who has taken on the role of captain of the team and when he hasn’t been involved he has continued to work hard, and when he has played he has helped his team. That’s what we have to achieve, that the team is greater than the sum of its players and that the footballers keep training to help the team throughout the season.

"The key is the group’s ability to respond"

LFP.es: This year both Valencia and Sevilla have shown that they can aim for big things...
Emery: Historically, teams like Sevilla, Real Sociedad, Athletic Club and RC Deportivo, in their day, are a group of clubs who sequence themselves according to our potential. Here at Sevilla we have always believed that qualifying for Europe was an objective that we are capable of achieving. Once we’ve qualified for Europe, we’re determined to get into the Champions League.

LFP.es: What will be the key to Sevilla achieving its objectives at the end of the season?
Emery: Perseverance, being able to keep the team alive, the players determined, well trained and going out to help the team. We need to be consistent and make sure the team’s awake so that when there are injuries or suspensions, the team comes first and the absences are not noticeable. That has been the key so far and how it has to be: the group’s ability to respond.

LFP.es: Finally, what message would you like to send to the fans?
Emery: The message is the same as always: to be united, to have the fans standing alongside the team, and the team will show its gratitude to its fans by giving everything for the Sevilla shirt. That’s our motto: be together to keep the flame of hope alive.