MY ACCOUNT
Julen Lopetegui pledged to stay professional until the last at Sevilla amid suggestions he will lose his job before the weekend.
The former Porto, Spain and Real Madrid head coach is reportedly set to be replaced by Jorge Sampaoli after Wednesday’s Champions League home game against Borussia Dortmund.
Sampaoli led Sevilla in the 2016-17 season before leaving to take charge of the Argentina national team.
He spent last season in France with Marseille, and Spanish sports newspaper Marca reported he will sign a two-year contract with Sevilla.
Lopetegui is apparently poised to pay the price for his team’s slow start to the season, which has seen them collect just five points from seven games, putting them already 10 points adrift of fourth place, which is currently held down by Real Betis.
A 2-0 loss to Atletico Madrid on Saturday looks to have been the final straw, with the transfer window departures of star defenders Diego Carlos and Jules Kounde having severely weakened the Andalusians.
Finishing fourth last season gave Sevilla a place in the Champions League, and Lopetegui is determined to make a dignified exit, if the Dortmund game does prove to be his last at the helm.
He said on Tuesday: “Look, in order to respect my own responsibility, I will not express any opinion about what has happened in the last few months.
“I prefer to keep it for myself as a part of the responsibility I have as a coach of a big club like Sevilla. So tomorrow I will approach the game with my highest energy. This is what I did for my previous 169 games [at Sevilla] and I will do it for the 170th.
“You cannot reach 170 games just by chance at such a demanding team as Sevilla. Obviously you must win a lot in order to stay for 170 games, and we did it. So I will not change either my speech or my attitude as a part of my responsibility.”
Lopetegui added: “I will keep loyal to what I have done here previously, because I think I must rise to the challenge at such a demanding club and of course, to not disappoint our fans, as they only deserve the best from every single person working at this club.
“From my end, I will give my best given the responsibility I have, as I have been doing throughout my 169 games here and tomorrow I will do it again without any doubt.”
Sevilla have failed to score in their last three Champions League games, with their last goal in the competition coming in November 2021 against Wolfsburg.
This season they have lost 4-0 to Manchester City and drawn 0-0 with FC Copenhagen. Sevilla have never previously failed to score in four consecutive games in European competition.
