Sevilla's Soria downplays talk of club's poor season

Seville (Spain), May 22 (IANS) Sevilla goalkeeper David Soria said he would like for "all bad seasons to be like" the one that just ended, which saw the team reach the quarter-finals of the Champions League and the Copa del Rey final.

In an interview with Efe, the 25-year-old Soria gave a summary of the season, saying the team's ups and downs were due to "playing in several competitions" and "changing the coach twice," referring to the firings of Eduardo Berizzo and Vincenzo Montella.

The demanding schedule and the coaching instability made it hard for Sevilla "to be consistent" in La Liga, he said.

Sevilla ended up in seventh place in the La Liga rankings and will play for the sixth consecutive season in the European competition, although it will have to get through three elimination matches to reach the group stage of the 2018-2019 Europa League.

The team competed brilliantly in the Copa del Rey up until its disastrous 0-5 loss in the final to Barcelona.

Soria confessed to Efe that in January he wanted to leave the club due to his lack of playing time, although Sevilla "didn't let him leave" and summoned him to a meeting at the end of the season that he decided to attend, since he always wanted "to play and win with Sevilla."

Things changed for Soria thanks to his performance in the first leg of the Champions League quarter-final tie against Bayern Munich, when he held the star-studded German side to two goals and secured the starting goalkeeper position for the rest of the season.

The city of Seville's other La Liga club, Real Betis, ended the season in sixth place, two points ahead of Sevilla, but Soria urged fans not to place too much emphasis on the rivalry.

Although he admitted that he and his teammates always wanted "to wind up ahead of (Real Betis)," Soria said that they should not "be looking at other teams," since "the important thing is to focus on what you have to improve."