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Leicester must forget title success to stay up - Sevilla boss Jorge Sampaoli

Sevilla boss Jorge Sampaoli has said Leicester need to forget their title miracle in order to survive this year.

Claudio Ranieri's champions have yet to win in the Premier League in 2017, have failed to score in their last six top-flight games, are just a point above the relegation zone and were dumped out of the FA Cup by  League One side Millwall on Saturday.

Leicester face Sevilla in Spain in the first leg of their Champions League round of 16 tie on Wednesday and Sampaoli believes that although they pose a threat, the Foxes need to move on from their shock league win.

"We're not talking about the team that won a league miraculously -- you have to live in the now," the former Chile boss said.

"So last year Leicester won the league but right now they are fighting relegation.

"The present matters the most. Ranieri got so much from the team last year with so little, but now he is struggling.

"The past doesn't matter, even when you have done something as miraculous as he did.

"I think Leicester are not having a good time in the league, they have a lot of doubts when last year they had so much belief.

"They were brilliant in the league last year and have been great in the Champions League, they qualified very quickly so in a two-legged tie it still poses a lot of risks for us."

Sevilla are third in La Liga following Saturday's 2-0 win over Eibar and have won nine of their 11 home league games this season, losing just once.

They finished second in Group H behind Juventus, the only team to beat them in Europe at the Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan Stadium this term.

Sampaoli has been linked with Barcelona should Luis Enrique leave the Nou Camp in the summer, but knocked back any talk over his future.

"We appreciate that they are trying to renew our contracts but we only want to live in the moment," he said.

"We want to be one of the best eight teams in Europe and that's more important than thinking about the future."

Sampaoli is without the suspended Gabriel Mercado and injured Nicolas Pareja (groin).

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