Pablo Sarabia believes Sevilla's lessons from Leicester loss will help overcome Bayern Munich in Champions League
The German champions visit the Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan Stadium on Tuesday night in the first leg of their Champions League quarter-final
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Sevilla midfielder Pablo Sarabia believes his team can harness their underdog spirit to knock Bayern Munich out of the Champions League.
The German champions visit the Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan Stadium on Tuesday night in the first leg of their quarter-final, and although Bayern are the favourites to advance to the final four, Sarabia insists Sevilla have learned enough from their experiences in Europe – in particular their exit against Leicester City a year ago – to overcome the challenge.
“You always dream of making it through one more round but we know how difficult this task is,” Sarabia said. “We aren’t favourites and it won’t be easy to beat Bayern. But we have our strengths and qualities and if we make the most of them, well, that’s how we can go through.
“We learned so much about this competition last season,” the 25-year-old added. ”We played a terrific match against Leicester in our stadium but we weren’t capable of taking enough of our chances and putting the tie to bed. Over in Leicester, we didn’t know how to produce the performance we needed. We deserved to go through but they did instead and that was like an apprenticeship for us.”
Sarabia will be pitted in midfield against Thiago Alcanthara, one of Bayern’s most gifted talents, and the Spain international is expecting a stern test from a team he faced regularly with Barcelona.
“When a big Champions League tie comes along, everyone ups their game,” Alcantara told Marca. “Even the kit man shines your boots better and the guy in the local cafe bar makes his best sandwiches – but this is all particularly true of Sevilla.
“On big Uefa nights they are made of something different. They rise to the occasion and they’ve proved they are one of Europe’s great clubs.”
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