MADRID, March 15 (Xinhua) -- Spanish Liga Santander club, Sevilla on Friday announced the sacking of coach Pablo Machin following a poor run of results, which ended in their elimination from the Europa League by Slavia Prague on Thursday night.
Sevilla were knocked out of the competition after extra time, 4-3 on the night and 6-5 on aggregate after leading 3-2 with just minutes to play.
"Sevilla have this Friday taken the decision to relieve the man who until now was the first team coach, Pablo Machin, due to the bad results achieved by the past few weeks," said the club.
Sevilla's Director of Sport, 63-year-old Joaquin Caparros will replace Machin, presumably until the end of the current season.
The experienced Caparros coached Sevilla for five successful seasons between 2000 and 2005 and last season also stood in for the closing games of the campaign after Vincenzo Montella was sacked by the club.
He will now sit in the dugout for Sunday's visit to play Espanyol in Barcelona.
Machin joined Sevilla from Girona last summer and although his side were impressive in the first half of the campaign, they have paid the price for an early start to the season which saw them play three Europa League qualifying rounds.
Sevilla have now played 49 competitive matches this season, but have lost half of the 18 they have played since the start of 2019, dropping from fourth place down to sixth in the league table, putting qualification for next season's Champions League seriously at risk.
