Slutsky stays grounded amid CSKA joy

As Manuel Jiménez reflected on a "disastrous" defeat for his Sevilla FC side, PFC CSKA Moskva counterpart Leonid Slutsky was typically phlegmatic. His Army Men marked their first appearance in the UEFA Champions League knockout stages by booking a quarter-final place, but the coach preferred to reserve judgment. He did praise his players for keeping their heads after Diego Perotti had cancelled out Tomáš Necid's opener, however, "controlling the course of the game" after Keisuke Honda's 55th-minute effort restored their advantage.

Manuel Jiménez, Sevilla coach
The result is disastrous and we can only apologise to our fans. We invested so much in this tie. I am the only one responsible for what has happened here tonight and I'll repeat that as many times as I need to. CSKA are a very good team. They waited for their chances despite technically being behind in the tie at the start. For our part we had a great opportunity to go ahead when the game was still goalless; normally we score in those situations but Luis Fabiano's effort found their goalkeeper. This is the type of difficult game you come up against in difficult competitions.

Leonid Slutsky, CSKA coach
We knew what to expect after the first leg. Having given ourselves the lead we knew they were capable of scoring at any given moment. With the tie locked [at 2-2] they were looking for another goal but we did well to make sure they didn't get it. I am happy that despite Sevilla managing to get a goal back, we did not allow them to seize the initiative and controlled the course of the game after we scored the second.

It's difficult to talk about the match from a tactical point of view, although it was neither the most emotional nor the toughest we have encountered. Some things [we planned] worked, others did not; that's football. We substituted [Miloš] Krasić because we had to defend, therefore sacrificing some attacking potential as we focused on not conceding.

Source: www.uefa.com