Sevilla chief wary of ‘very well-built’ West Ham – Feels Hammers are ‘toughest team’ they can face

Sevilla chief Monchi has labelled West Ham United a “very well-built team” who are having a “magnificent” season after the two clubs were drawn to face each other in the Europa League.

The Hammers were drawn to face the Spanish side in the Europa League Round of 16 earlier today, with the first tie set to take place at the Sanchez Pizjuan on March 10^th.

The draw is arguably one of the harder ones that David Moyes’ side could have pulled out of the hat, with Sevilla, fellow Spaniards Barcelona and Portuguese giants Porto among the favourites to win the competition.

They will head to Spain full of confidence, though, with them currently enjoying one of their best seasons in living memory.

West Ham currently sit sixth in the Premier League but just four points outside of the top four, with Manchester United currently holding fourth place ahead of them.

They have also been in good form in Europe, breezing through the Europa League group stages with impressive wins over the likes of Genk, Dinamo Zagreb and Rapid Wien.

It means West Ham will hold no fears in Spain, even if they are coming up against a side who have won the Europa League a record six times, the last success coming in 2019/20.

And Monchi is more than aware his side won’t have things easy either, hailing West Ham in his reaction to the draw.

“We’ve been drawn against the toughest team,” he told SFC Radio, relayed by Diario de Sevilla.

“The level of the eight teams was important. But there was obviously a scale, and I put at the top Olympique Lyon and West Ham, with Bayer Leverkusen just below them, and possibly we’ve been drawn with the most complicated of them all.

“(They) are a very well-built team, who are having a magnificent season in the English championship, with players of international stature, who are also very strong technically and physically.

“It’s a good tie, worthy of a competition that is becoming more and more important like the Europa League, and we’ll wait to see what happens in these two games.

“There are games and ties from the recent past, all with big teams because in London they are big teams. It’s a nice experience to play in London, in the cradle of football, which will help us to measure our ability to improve.”