Sevilla forward Chidera Ejuke praised his team’s performance but admitted he was disappointed with the result after their 2-1 defeat to Espanyol on Monday night, SportPremi reports.
The Nigerian winger started the defeat on the bench, but came on in the 34th minute as a substitute for Adnan Januzaj, who went down with a muscle injury.
It was Ejuke’s 10th league appearance of the season, although he has only started three times and 11th appearance in all competitions.
Los Rojiblancos missed the chance to close in on the European spots with the defeat, as they remain in the bottom half of the standings.
Sevilla dominate but suffer disappointing defeat
Super Eagles striker Akor Adams got the nod to start, while Ejuke was left on the bench in the high-stakes encounter, although he entered the fray after just 34 minutes.
The home side started in encouraging fashion, but Sevilla grew into the game and Adams was denied the opener by the post as the first half ended goalless.
Espanyol were out of the blocks quickly in the second half and were in front just two minutes after the break when Pere Milla headed in a cross.
Roberto Fernandez doubled their tally later in the game with a stunning strike from outside the area as Sevilla lost grip on the clash.
Leandro Cabrera’s own goal halved the deficit for the visitors, who could not muster an equalizer as Espanyol sealed all three points.
Espanyol moved into sixth place, level on points with Real Betis, while Sevilla remain in 11th with 16 points from 13 matches.
Ejuke hails Sevilla performance
Despite the defeat, Sevilla were the much better side and produced a dominant performance that saw them record over 20 attempts compared to their opponent’s eight.
The Nigerian international was pleased with the display, but believes there can be room for improvement in coming games.
“We created a lot of chances, as you said. Imagine creating 22 chances, and just one finds the back of the net. It’s a difficult thing to believe”, Ejuke said.
“In general, we played a good game, we had a good game, good momentum.
“We had a lot of possession, we ran well as a team, and we were there for each other. Hopefully, we can build on this and move forward to the next game.
On the club’s next match
“Definitely, we have to look forward. This game is very important for us, and we’re playing at home, so we’ll have to do everything we can to get a win in that game,” the Super Eagles international added.
“As I said, we have a good momentum, we’re building together as a team, we’ll approach with everything we have, and by God’s grace, we’ll come out on top,” Ejuke concluded.
