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Mbia and Deulofeu delight in Sevilla success

Sevilla FC's key men Stéphane Mbia and Gerard Deulofeu were in bubbly mood while Feyenoord's Ruben Shaken and Karim El Ahmadi turned thoughts to R. Standard de Liège.

Stéphane Mbia makes it 2-0
Stéphane Mbia makes it 2-0 ©Getty Images

Stéphane Mbia underlines importance of "work on training ground" in Sevilla's win
Creator of both the holders' goals, Gerard Deulofeu, enjoys win in a "special competition"
Feyenoord winger Ruben Schaken rues "two quick goals that helped Sevilla play"
Team-mate Karim El Ahmadi says "Sevilla are stronger" and only second place realistic
Next games: Rijeka v Sevilla, Feyenoord v Standard (2 October)

Stéphane Mbia, Sevilla midfielder
It's important for the team to work hard and get three points. We pulled together, we played well and got a good result. We do a lot of work on set-pieces on the training ground, the coach comes up with the strategies and they came off tonight, helping us get a great result for the team, for the group and for the fans.

I'm so happy to be here. We've got a great coach, we have a fantastic team, great young players and great new signings. I've just signed for one year and we'll see what happens after that, but I'm just enjoying it and feel very happy to be back. For me, the most important thing is to enjoy my job, and I like it here, the people are nice, my family are happy here, so I'm just going to do my best on the pitch and see where we can go from here.

I think I have [become a better player since coming here] and that's why I stayed, because I always want to do better, by doing my best on the training ground and on the pitch. Not looking to our next [UEFA Europa League] game yet, we're just taking things step by step and enjoy tonight's win - we played well, we got three points and it's a really important start.

Gerard Deulofeu, Sevilla midfielder
We knew that it would be a tough game, but we were fortunate enough to take a two-goal lead and then I think we managed the game very well. We defended very well as a team and what's most important are the three points we've got in the bag. It was vital to start well, with three points. We did that and now we have to get back to work again.

Yes, both assists were very similar. You have to work on [set-piece] strategy, I think it's very important. This game was decided by dead-ball situations, though to be honest I think we played a very good game overall. This is a competition that means a lot and is very special to everyone involved with Sevilla, so let's see if we can keep moving forward step by step towards challenging for it.

Ruben Schaken, Feyenoord forward
I think the organisation was not good, we conceded from two standard free-kick situations. You make [marking] appointments and then you see then they're not done by the defenders. So we conceded two quick goals which was great for Sevilla – because it helped them to play, made them feel good, comfortable and that they could come into their game. You could see today how good a team they are.

It was unlucky, because if that free-kick [from Jens Toornstra) had gone in it would have brought us to within one goal, which would have given us more belief, more confidence, but it didn't go in.

Next game [at home to R. Standard de Liège] is very important. You know that if you're playing Sevilla away you could well lose, it's normal as they're a very big club, but we have to pick up points in our home games - starting with the one against Standard, which I think is winnable. We need to stay in the top two places and to do that we'll need to be strong at home and steal some points away to Rijeka and Standard

Karim El Ahmadi, Feyenoord midfielder
Yes, it was a tough game as we knew it would be. Sevilla are a team that ought to be in the Champions League or something – they're that strong. But if you look at their two goals we could feel a bit unlucky as we gave them free headers far too easily. I think if we'd managed to frustrate them in the first half and keep the score at 0-0 then we might have been able to do something but, realistically, Sevilla are a stronger team than we are and I think we need to focus on second place in the group.

Maybe if that free-kick had gone in to make it 2-1, you never know what could have happened. But we have a young team and this kind of experience is good for them, taking on big teams at this level. As I said before, I think we have to focus on trying to finish second and to do that we'll need to get as many points as possible from our home games.

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