Empathy by empathy at home, Sevilla’s bones are getting more and more stuck in the League bed. The mattress that she had with her natural and now revived persecutors, Barcelona and Atlético, has been narrowing and the lack of plumage begins to announce some discomfort, due to how thin that comfortable and fluffy bra that she had until a month ago is becoming. Suddenly, after Real Madrid once again brought out that punch that Benzema gives him, Mendizorroza’s tie has turned the head of Lopetegui’s Sevilla. no longer look up, but bends the neck to see what comes from below. And it’s not like resting on your laurels, even if the mattress starts to feel uncomfortable.
It is time, therefore, for Lopetegui’s team, with a body fatigued between bruises and stiffness from continuous effort, to get up, stretch, stretch muscles and tendons and give the mattress in question a major boost, each time more narrow. The margin with the fifth classified, now Betis, is still wide, nine points. But Atlético, with its controversial victory over Cádiz, has already moved to four, and Barcelona is seven before playing at the Camp Nou this Sunday at 9:00 p.m. against Osasuna, and also has another game pending for play…
Meanwhile, the leadership has already moved away to eight points. That is to say, that the streak of games without winning was, because at home he continues to show himself as a titan that overcomes all kinds of adversities, begins to have its consequences in the leaderboard.
Julen Lopetegui assures that he does not even want to look at her. He doesn’t want to do it either. Antoni Iraola, coach of Rayo Vallecano who has conspired to end his terrible streak once and for all: a single point has been added from the last 24 in play, so it has gone from being in Champions positions to starting to look at those who are struggling to get out of the bottom. El Rayo returns to the natural place that corresponds to its budget and history, after having been the revelation team of the first round and having caressed the final of the Copa del Rey. And Sevilla wants to continue aspiring to climb a step in its status as a Champions team, which is its main objective.
For this last reason, and without the buzz that he was the candidate to fight with Madrid for the title, Lopetegui’s men maintain the tranquility that the margin gives them with fifth place. But no one escapes the fact that after having spent so many days as the leader’s pursuer, noticing the encouragement of Atlético and Barcelona can undermine the morale of a troop that continues to be crushed by injuries. Yesterday Lopetegui gave the summoned list and could not even complete the 23 allowed, despite the fact that he included five homegrown players, namely: Carmona, Kike Salas and Juanlu to reinforce the depleted defense, and Luismi Cruz and Iván Romero more to complete the payroll of travelers than for anything else. Because the Gipuzkoan coach does have offensive troops.
So much so that the possible variables of the team, the main unknowns about the eleven, focus on how they will distribute the attacking positions, taking into account that on Thursday they also have a momentous game in London to stay alive in the Europa League. Martial has been the only one from the last injury streak that has already reappeared against West Ham and today he could appear as a striker, along with Ocampos and Tecatito Corona, for example. But he could also play in a band and give rest to one of the two usual wings and that En-Nesyri or Rafa Mir are at the top.
Lopetegui spoke at length about the special conditions of the Vallecas stadium, a stadium to which Sevilla returns after two years without doing so and where they have not lost for a decade. The former rayista knows the house perfectly – he played between 1997 and 2002 and in 2003 he made his debut as a coach – because of how short it is and how narrow it is, in addition to the Rayo footballers and his fans, who have been summoned to turn the small Madrid stadium in a pressure cooker in favor of breaking that lousy streak from which Iraola’s team cannot get out in 2022, losing two important footballers, Isi and Álvaro.
Yes, Lopetegui will be able to refresh, with respect to the men who played on Thursday, the midfield. Not much, because just as he beat Delaney, sanctioned in Europe, and Rakitic, who felt stomach discomfort, he lost Joan Jordán through suspension. In other words, it is most likely that the Danish and the Swiss-Croatian will form on the axis with the unknown as to whether Munir, after his great role against the English, repeat in the midfielder or choose to repeat in midfield with Óliver Torres in front of the two pivots.
It is from midfield forward where Lopetegui has more variants at the moment. In defense there is what there is. Jesús Navas, Koundé, Gudelj and Acuña will carry the weight again, with just Augustinsson as a refresher on the bench. But this should not be an excuse. The question is why Sevilla compete and win at home and, with the same casualties, compete in another way and tie at home. Today there is another test to try to answer that question. The mattress survey could be titled. An increasingly lean mattress.
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