Sevilla coach Manolo Jimenez dismissed suggestions his side took it easy against Stuttgart during their 1-1 Champions League clash, insisting the German side only claimed the upper hand after the Andalusians were reduced to 10 men by Aldo Duscher's injury.
Although Sevilla ultimately booked their place in the last 16 of the Champions League with the result, they were indebted to an 88th-minute equaliser for Unirea Urziceni against Rangers to guarantee themselves a top-two finish in Group G after failing to hold onto an early lead against Stuttgart.
Winger Jesus Navas, who was captaining Sevilla in the absence of a number of senior players, put his side ahead in the 14th minute but Stuttgart battled back and created a number of chances, including hitting the crossbar through Pavel Pogrebnyak, before deservedly drawing level 11 minutes from time through Zdravko Kuzmanovic's partially-deflected 25-yard thunderbolt.
Stuttgart might even have stolen a winner but Julian Schieber sent an acrobatic volley inches wide as Sevilla rode their luck late on.
Jimenez pointed to the injury to substitute Duscher, who limped off with 15 minutes to go with Sevilla having used all three of their substitutes, as a big reason why they surrendered their 100% record in Group G and not because his side had taken their foot off the pedal and were walking rather than running.
"At Sevilla, nobody walks. We had a pretty good first half against a magnificent team. The game was developing how we wanted and all of Stuttgart's domination arrived after the injury to Duscher." said Jimenez, who was forced to make his first change in the 30th minute after striker Arouna Kone also picked up an injury.
"There's nothing to reproach the team for, they had a great first half and have suffered when we were left with 10 men against a good team like Stuttgart. But until Duscher was injured the game was in our favour."
Goalkeeper Javi Varas added: "The important thing is the qualification. We have taken a big step and now what we cannot do is relax because we want to be first in the group."
