Sevilla
Keep
Historically, the Seville It has been a team whose mission was to make life difficult for the two biggest clubs in the country. And he did it, in addition, knowing that the distances with the templates of Real Madrid and Barcelona They used to be sidereal, something that was reflected in the qualifying and scoring distance with which both entities arrived at the League match on duty. However, especially in the last fifteen years, the growth of the sevillista team has been bringing goals closer and it has become one more candidate to ‘bother’ in that war between two (three in recent years with Atlético) that usually lead whites and azulgranas. What practically no one would have expected when making predictions for this season is that the distance between Sevilla and Barça was going to be so favorable for those of Julen Lopetegui, with almost the half of the championship already consumed.
It is striking that, before tonight’s game, they are ten points that separate them in the classification, with the same 17 games played. This data has two clear readings. On the one hand, obviously, the good work of a Seville that, overcoming the setback of the eChampions League limiting In a certainly affordable group, and with a plague of injuries that affects the squad with up to four long-term absences, they have managed to add victory after victory and acquire a consistency that in the last ten games only Real Madrid has broken. A team, the white, who aspires to pressure in the fight for the League title, reaching three points if tonight he wins the eleven trained by Xavi Hernandez.
The other factor to explain this distance is, naturally, in the anomalous performance of Barcelona. His four defeats so far are already more than half of those he conceded in all of last season. The restructuring of the was post Messi, together with an economic situation that conditioned, and much, the Barcelona transfer market, as well as their immediate future, is taking its toll on a Barça that right now appears out of the European positions and that is marked as a primary challenge not to lose the train stops to be able to play the Champions League next season.
In Sevilla they had never seen each other so far in points from the rival tonight. Only the oldest of the place can remember how on matchday 23 of the 1941-42 season the team trained by Victorian saints he took out Barcelona, led first by Ramon Guzman and then by Juan Jose Nogués, a distance of eleven points, something more meritorious because then the triumphs were worth two points. Since then, Sevilla have rarely been ahead in the table and the sidereal distances have always been in favor of the Catalans. If the Andalusians win today, the distance will exceed that historical record and will increase to thirteen points. In the opposite case, Barcelona will have a notch of faith to hold on to regarding the recovery of their team in this League with a second round to play.
With the just forces
The Seville of Lopetegui He arrives at this appointment, which serves to recover the postponed match of Matchday 4, with the oxygen cylinder to the limit, but with the fresh air that victories always bring. And more than that achieved in the 88th minute against a direct rival like Atlético. But that meeting claimed the victims of Montiel and Acuña, who have no signs of being on a list in which they will not appear either Jesús Navas, Suso ni Lamela. En-Nesyri, who has not played for several weeks, could appear in the call, although it would be a risk. The eleven will recover Rafa Mir up front and Lopetegui will have to line up Koundé on the right side due to the absence of troops. Fernando will once again be the anchor in the medullary after his sanction. For its part, Barça is encouraged after offering its best version with Xavi in the duel against Elche, in which the youth ranks were the protagonists. Of course, the defensive weakness could cost him dearly and it will be a factor to be solved against a Seville that concedes little behind.
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