Sevilla captain Ivan Rakitic labels Europa League as “our competition” ahead of the United tie

Sevilla captain Ivan Rakitic has labelled Europa League as their competition ahead of the crunch quarter-final tie against Manchester United.

The former Croatia international has admitted that United are the favourites going into this tie but also wants to continue building the Spanish side’s positive history in this competition.

If we talk about the last 10 years, Sevilla have won the Europa League on four occasions, including making a hat-trick between 2014 and 2016 and then beating Inter Milan in the 2020 final.

So, Rakitic is not wrong to suggest that they are the hot property when it comes to winning this trophy. Here’s what he said (h/t Manchester Evening News):

“Manchester United will be favourites, but the history of Sevilla in the Europa League, we want to continue that.

“We compete really, really well in training sessions and I think the [manager] has come with that same belief to keep doing well and have an important say in the Europa League. We want to compete tomorrow. We have prepared in the best way possible and the idea of going home and being alive, I don’t like that expression. This is our competition.”

Things feel different this season though. Sevilla have been in rotten league form going into this tie. They also recently had their manager Jorge Sampaoli sacked due to that form.

However, over a two-legged tie with everything on the line, no team can be taken lightly. Moreover, the Spanish strugglers know how to taste success in the Europa League.

Hence, we expect a title encounter in both legs. United missing Marcus Rashford may have a greater impact than many are anticipating. The Englishman was scoring the necessary goals to win them the games.

Without him, who will take charge of doing that and also be a nuisance to the opposition defenders? The likes of Bruno Fernandes, Jadon Sancho and Antony need to take more responsibility.

The good news is that Christian Eriksen is back from injury and played a few minutes against Everton last Saturday. Casemiro is back from domestic suspension, although he would have been available for the European games regardless.

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United are favourites to go through, but one can never discount Spanish teams, especially Sevilla on European nights.