Manzano holds out Champions League hope

Sevilla head coach Gregorio Manzano believes his side can still qualify for the Champions League despite being 12 points behind Valencia.

Manzano’s side beat Valencia on Sunday thanks to a single goal from Ivan Rakitic, but are still some way off the pace of their fourth-placed rivals.

But despite the gap, Manzano believes there is still time for Sevilla to catch Valencia and earn a spot in Europe’s premier competition.

“As long as there is a mathematical possibility of Champions League football, we aren’t going to give up,” Manzano said.

“It doesn’t depend on us, as we just have to win every Sunday and hope that those ahead of us don’t.”

“We need to be like we were (Sunday). We had stages of very good play with chances and reaped the rewards that we maybe didn’t in Bilbao, Santander, A Coruna or the Calderon.”

“We have to continue in this way until the end of the season, and keep going against Zaragoza (on April 2) when we come back from the week off.”