MADRID, 12 Abr. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The president of Sevilla, Pepe Castro, made it clear that they did not issue a statement “for fun” after the arbitration in the match against Celta last Friday but because they are seeing situations that “are not normal”, and affirmed that “if all the teams complain about the arbitrations will be for a reason”, while, facing the Europa League duel against Manchester United, he believes that going to the semifinals would give them an “outstanding” grade in this competition.
“We do not make a statement for pleasure but because the things that are
happening are not normal, the comparison with the Premier in terms of expulsions is not normal, something is happening,” Castro told the media after landing in Manchester for the match against United in the Europa League.
The leader, who is “very clear that the referees have to be independent”, believes that the discomfort between the clubs makes reflection mandatory. “If all the teams complain, it will be for something,” he warned after Elche, Cádiz or Espanyol have also shown their disagreement.
For the Sevilla leader, “there are things that nobody knows when they are going to whistle and when they don’t like the hands, the intentionality or the cards. And that lack of criteria does not make sense,” he remarked in statements collected by the club’s website.
“The thing about Pape (Gueye) the other day shows that there is no synchronization, the players follow the play and nobody sees anything, not even the referee, but the show is loaded, it pisses off the players and that makes it easier for more to be sent off later. The referee has to go unnoticed and cannot be the protagonist of the matches”, added Castro in relation to the expulsion of the midfielder against Celta.
He also acknowledged that he would have liked Marcos Acuña to only have had “one” game due to his expulsion in the same game. “But we have to be careful because we play a lot. You have to talk to the referee as little as possible, we are going to study that it could be something less, but the sanction has just come out,” he declared.
As for the quarterfinal tie against Manchester United, he does not hide his “difficulty because he is a ‘great team’ with a huge squad.” “It imposes the environment, the stadium, the squad, the budget, the clubs they have eliminated. But we are in our competition and we are going to try to make it difficult, with the hope of passing as we have done on other occasions against this team”, he highlighted .
“You have to look at Old Trafford,” he replied, asked if the league situation deserves all the attention. “We are having a bad, suspenseful league, but in Europe it is remarkable and if we pass it would be outstanding,” he stressed.
Castro recalled that “Sevilla never gives up.” “He has this opportunity and we are going to try to take advantage of it against a ‘great team’ that is showing a lot, but we are the ‘king’ of the competition, we are going to make it difficult and the squad is aware because for Sevilla, the Europa League is another thing,” he said.
“I see more options now because I see the team more compact and better in everything, but above all because we are recovering players. So many casualties in the same positions have affected us a lot and now the coach has more options, something that can be decisive”, he sentenced the Sevilla president.