Sevilla can out-play favourites Benfica, says Emery

Turin: Sevilla coach Unai Emery admits that Benfica are favourites to win the Europa League final on Wednesday but says his side will stay faithful to their style of play and believe in their chances.

The Andalusian club are aiming to lift the trophy for the third time in nine years but their form has dropped off in recent weeks and they face a strong Benfica side that are Portuguese champions. Sevilla have failed to win in their last three La Liga games, which ended their hopes of claiming a Champions League place. They only scraped through their Europa League semi-final with Valencia, having won the first leg 2-0. They needed an injury-time Stephane MBia goal to go through 3-3 on aggregate in Valencia. "I am always confident from when I get up in the morning until I go to bed," Emery told a news conference on Tuesday in Turin, where the final will be played. "I respect people`s feelings but I am prudent. Benfica have reasons to be favourites but we have reasons to be confident in our team. "Being objective, the favourites to to win the Europa League were Juventus, and the team that eliminated Juventus are Benfica, so that would logically mean that they are the team to beat. "But that doesn`t change our belief in that we are capable of overcoming them. What I can say clearly is that both teams deserve to be finalists. "Benfica have some injuries but I don`t think that they will determine the outcome. They rotate their squad and they have had strong games with different players involved, so I don`t think it will change anything. "We are only thinking about one clear thing and that is our own style of play and how we perform. Other things will be going on but we will try and not be distracted and only concentrate on what will be necessary to win the game. History will take its course." Captain Ivan Rakitic dismissed concerns over recent poor results. "We are all 100 percent," he told the news conference. "Not only physically but mentally. We work to be 100 percent for all games and you have some matches better than others but tomorrow we will be at a high level." The Croatian responded to criticism of his own play by saying: "I am not more important than the team and it is fine if I have a poor game but we lift the trophy. "I will do my best on the pitch. It has been a long season in which we have worked hard to be in this game. "We have prepared for the game as well as possible and we want to go out and have the best match of our lives."