Sevilla vs Athletic Bilbao - Sevilla's Coke: We won't fall flat in second leg

Posted Thursday, April 14, 2016 by PA

Sevilla full-back Coke insists his side will guard against complacency as they bid to continue their UEFA Europa League glory run in their quarter-final second leg against Athletic Bilbao.

Unai Emery's men go into the game with a 2-1 advantage after goals from Timothee Kolodziejczak and Vicente Iborra saw them hit back from a second half deficit in Bilbao last week.

And Sevilla's impressive home form in the competition - they have won their last 12 straight games at the Estadio Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan - means they are hot favourites to move closer to a third straight final.

But Coke warned: "Athletic is a team that can make a goal at any time and they have also recovered some important players for the game.

"We had a good result after all the hard work we did, but we have got to go out on Thursday and produce an even better performance."

Sevilla go into the game on the back of a disappointing Primera Division defeat to Valencia on Sunday for which Emery rested a number of important players.

The manager was heavily critical of his defence after a defeat which saw his side lose valuable ground in their bid to secure the safety net of a qualification place back in the Europa League next season.

Ever Banega is suspended for the game while left-back Benoit Tremoulinas is a doubt after missing the Valencia loss with a hamstring strain.

Bilbao bounced back from their first leg setback when they beat struggling Rayo Vallecano 1-0 at the weekend but their hard-fought victory came at a price.

Striker Inaki Williams, who scored the only goal in the game, is almost certainly out with a hamstring strain and he joins fellow injury victims Aymeric Laporte and Savin Merino on the sidelines.