Sevilla prepared to punch their ticket to the Europa League final

Sevilla are set to punch their ticket to the Europa League final, so long as the La Liga side doesn’t cough up its 3-0 advantage from the first leg against Fiorentina later today.

The Spanish club is hoping to defend its Europa League crown and become the first team to win the competition four times.

Speaking ahead of today’s return leg, Sevilla coach Unai Emery said his side is not thinking about the result from the first leg. His main focus is to make sure his team stays concentrated on getting a result against their Italian opposition.

“We’re very aware that we are close to the final and we have prepared for this match disregarding the first leg result,” Emery said.

“We cannot think it will be so clear-cut again. We’re very motivated. Our only thought is on competing and playing our best.

“We’re going to have to be careful because we know they will be very motivated. We have to give a good performance, and a good performance comes when you play to win.

“I’ve heard of people who have already booked tickets for Warsaw, trying to get cheap flights assuming we will be there, but I can’t guarantee that we will be there.

“All I can guarantee is that we will give everything to get there.

“We have to keep our concentration from the very first to the very last second. I want my team to be playing in the 80th minute like we were in the first minute. We’ve got to be on our toes at all times.”

Fiorentina have never retrieved a 3-0 deficit in a UEFA competition tie, but have won the return legs of all three of their knockout ties this season – including a 3-0 away win at AS Roma.

Only one team has ever retrieved a three-goal deficit in a Europa League knockout phase tie, that being Valencia who recovered from a 3-0 first leg defeat to beat FC Basel 5-0 during the 2013-14 quarter-finals.

Sevilla have never been eliminated in a European semi-final, winning all three of their previous last-four encounters.

Programming note: Fiorentina vs. Sevilla will be shown LIVE today starting at 3:00pm EST on FOX Sports 2 and FoxSoccer2Go. Unfortunately, FOX Sports has decided to show a NASCAR practice on FS1, hence Europa League being bumped.