Emery wants Sevilla to show ´character´

Unai Emery has called fo Sevilla to be “brave” against Manchester City in the Champions League – but acknowledges he would be happy with a draw at the Etihad Stadium.

The Europa League holders travel to England having won just three of their 11 matches in all competitions so far this season.

However, one of those victories did come in Europe as they saw off Borussia Monchengladbach 3-0 at home in their opening Group D outing, only to then suffer a defeat against Juventus in the second round of matches.

City have also recorded a win and a loss so far in the competition, meaning the back-to-back fixtures against Sevilla could go a long way to deciding who qualifies for the knockout stages.

Emery said at his pre-match media conference on Tuesday: “This game is key – whoever wins or loses is in a different place. We’ll try to win but maybe a draw is even a positive result.

“They have some great players. We’re aware of the dangers they can create but we can create danger for them too.

“We need to take something from the last two years in the Europa League – we need to have character on the field.

“You need to be brave but you need to be brave in a controlled way, we need to be balanced and we need to be confident that we can go and win all of our individual battles.”

City’s Jesus Navas will be going up against his old club, having spent 10 years with Sevilla before moving to England in 2013.

“We know what Navas means to Sevilla,” Emery added. “We’re very happy for him – happy he’s playing and contributing. He’s a lovely person.

“We know that City have some speedy players who can hurt us, so we need to control that speed and to control those players.”