Lopetegui on Sampaoli rumors: I will not express any opinion about it

Despite rumors that he will be fired as

manager before the weekend, Julen Lopetegui has vowed to do his job professionally until the very end. After Wednesday's home Champions League game against

, the former Porto, Spain, and Real Madrid head coach is expected to be replaced by

Jorge Sampaoli

.

During the 2016–17 season, Sampaoli coached Sevilla. He then left to take over the Argentine national team. He played in France for

last year, and a two-year deal with Sevilla has reportedly been agreed upon, according to the Spanish sports weekly Marca.

According to reports, Lopetegui is on the verge of being fired after Real Madrid's dismal start to the season, during which they have won just five of seven games and are already 10 points behind Real Betis in fourth place.

With veteran defenders Diego Carlos and

having left during the summer window, the Andalusians were already poor heading into Saturday's 2-0 loss to Atletico Madrid.

Sevilla qualified for the Champions League by finishing in fourth place last season, and if the match against Dortmund is Lopetegui's last as head coach, he plans to step down with honor. On Tuesday he remarked, 

"Look, in order to respect my own responsibility, I will not express any opinion about what has happened in the last few months. I prefer to keep it for myself as a part of the responsibility I have as a coach of a big club like Sevilla. So tomorrow I will approach the game with my highest energy. This is what I did for my previous 169 games [at Sevilla] and I will do it for the 170th."

"You cannot reach 170 games just by chance at such a demanding team as Sevilla. Obviously you must win a lot in order to stay for 170 games, and we did it. So I will not change either my speech or my attitude as a part of my responsibility. I will keep loyal to what I have done here previously, because I think I must rise to the challenge at such a demanding club and of course, to not disappoint our fans, as they only deserve the best from every single person working at this club.

"From my end, I will give my best given the responsibility I have, as I have been doing throughout my 169 games here and tomorrow I will do it again without any doubt."

With their previous Champions League goal coming in November 2021 against Wolfsburg, Sevilla have gone three games without scoring. So far this season, they've lost 4-0 to

Manchester City

and drawn 0-0 with FC Copenhagen. Sevilla have never gone without a goal in four straight games in European competition before.

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