Lopez urges Sevilla to return to winning ways

Sevilla goalkeeper Diego Lopez has urged his team not to be too downbeat after last night's 2-1 loss at home to Valladolid in La Liga. Michel's 12th-placed side were unable to recover from an early two-goal deficit as Valladolid lifted themselves within a point of the European qualifying places. But Lopez has already set his sights on a return to winning ways in Friday night's clash at rock-bottom Espanyol. "It has affected us all because it was an important match for us," said the 31-year-old, who returned to action in the league last night having played in last Wednesday's Copa del Rey tie against Espanyol in Barcelona. "We have another match on Friday and we have to return to our winning streak to get ahead. "Now the most important thing is to get the three points at the Estadio Cornella El Prat. It's crucial. We need the three points and to play like we did in the cup." "The start was not easy and nobody wanted this situation, but we cannot despair and we have to stop all pessimism. We will have a good season and there's still a lot of matches ahead of us." Patrick Ebert opened the scoring at the Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan on Monday night with a little over a minute on the clock and quickly set up the second for Oscar Gonzalez as the visitors started strongly. Manucho's own goal put the game back in the balance, but Sevilla then had Gary Medel sent off and, despite some late pressure, could not muster an equaliser. "At the beginning we didn't go out there strongly enough and they took advantage of this with two goals," Lopez said. "They scored a goal against us and that meant we were not concentrated enough to take on the match and from then on it was very difficult. We lost our direction and it cost us. "Little by little, we started to take the lead and we had opportunities. In the second half we really went for it and, with only ten men, we maintained the same standard in an attempt to turn the match around." FIFA