Of course nothing can be taken for granted in La Liga seeing as it is the best league in the world but let’s make one thing clear – anything less than three points at home today will be a massive disappointment.

Coming off a midweek triumph in Europe will undoubtedly add to our confidence but at the same time we have to be careful because success is a dangerous thing. We saw what happened after we beat Real; we came back from the international break and got shot back down to reality by Depor.

What will make this an even more difficult task is the amount of absences we will have from our regular squad and starting XI. We have several key players out due to illness, knocks picked up against Stuttgart midweek and longer term injuries as well. It’s funny how just a bit over a week ago I was saying how Manolo has a selection headache because of how well everyone was playing, but now it seems like he’ll have a selection headache for a whole other reason.

The biggest blow to us is that both Luis Fabiano and Ivica Dragutinovic will be out due to viral infections as will Frédéric Kanouté due to a minor knock he picked up midweek against Stuttgart which he has been unable to fully recover from. Adriano will also be out of the squad for what is projected to be about a month as he limped off in Germany due to a pulled muscle. Last but not least, Andrés Palop will remain out of the squad due to his minor injury meaning Javi Varas will start his third consecutive match.

Due to all these injuries a few call ups have been made to the squad including Manuel Redondo, José Carlos and last but not least, Chevantón. Yes, I said it – CHEVA.

He used to be a personal favourite of mine as he would always come on and score – he was like the ultimate supersub. Obviously with the competition we have up front this year he is struggling to see minutes on the pitch and rightfully so but now is a good a time as any to prove his worth. Injuries never really helped his cause as when he would get an opportunity to play, he often got injured and wouldn’t play again till weeks later. Having said all this, he probably will not start or possibly even play at all as I expect Negredo to start up top alongside Koné.

It will be very interesting indeed to see how Jiménez assembles our starting XI tonight with so many key players out. Just so you have an idea of who you might see tonight, the squad will look something like this:
Javi Varas, Dani Jiménez, Konko, Sergio Sánchez, Squillaci, Lolo, Escudé, Fernando Navarro, Redondo, Zokora, Duscher, Renato, Romaric, José Carlos, Navas, Capel, Perotti, Chevantón, Koné, Negredo.

Even with this squad I believe we have the depth to come away with all three points. With our passionate fans behind us for 90 minutes, we should expect nothing less than a victory at home.

¡¡VAMOS MI SEVILLA!!

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It means when we wear the Spanish flag on our Champions League jersey, we wear it to show why La Liga is the best league in the world. Unlike Barcelona, Real Madrid and Atlético displaying the negatives of Spanish football, we choose to go abroad and show what La Liga is really all about – beautiful football.

We headed to Germany coming off a defeat this past weekend to the hands of Deportivo la Coruña. Before Depor sent us back to reality however, we had won 7 straight matches in all competitions and were in absolute top form. It scared me a bit that we seemed to become content with that and not get the three points in La Coruña which still displays the difference between us and a top European side. Having said that though, we bounced back against Stuttgart perfectly to show that maybe we do have just what it takes to play with the big boys of Europe.

Stuttgart has been in pretty abysmal form of late considering they haven’t won at home since the start of the Bundesliga season. We knew that counted for nothing going into the match though as any team can get a boost of confidence by playing on Europe’s biggest stage, better known as the Champions League.

A Squillaci double and goal by our prodigal son Navas gave us the victory in Germany to see us have a total of 9 point from three group stage matches thus far. A flawless record is definitely something to boast about considering only three other teams in the competition can relate.

Needless to say that the victory sees us put one foot in the door of the next round as the rest of our group would probably have too much catching up to do.

I’m not going to come out here and lie – Stuttgart were probably the better team over the course of 90 minutes and had it not have been for Squillaci’s first goal to break their momentum, the table may look a bit different than it currently does.

What hurt the Germans was their failure to convert their early chances because after Sébastien’s goal, we may not have dominated that match, but we took control of it. You might be wondering how that makes any sense and luckily enough, I’m here to break it down for you.

Us scoring forced Stuttgart to push up more and gave us the space we love to play in, especially along the flanks. Stuttgart did create many chances by pushing up but we hit them on the counter and made use of our set pieces when given the chance.

On a bit of a side note here – I’m really satisfied with how much progress we’ve made in regards to set pieces over the past few years. When Manolo first took over we were pathetic and it never seemed to amaze me how many goals we could have had if we scored from 1 out of every 3 set pieces like good teams usually do. With quick players like Navas, Perotti, and Capel we have no problem drawing the fouls, we just can’t capitalize off of them.

I almost feel bad for Stuttgart because just as they continued to re-gain control of the match and look as the likelier team to score, Lehmann (who I hate, fyi) failed to control Perotti’s cross giving my personal favourite (as everyone probably has noticed in my obvious favouritism by now) Jesús Navas probably one of the easiest goals he’s ever scored. It was a huge sucker punch to them but I guess that’s how football goes and we’ve been on the receiving end of it good enough so yeah, I was pretty ecstatic when I saw us up at 2-0.

From there on in we were in cruise control and never looked like losing the match. The final nail was added in the coffin when on 72 minutes we capitalized off another set piece and Sébastien Squillaci who was hands down the man of the match, added a third for the team and a second for himself on the night.

Stuttgart did score off a set piece themselves as substitute Élson scored a smashing freekick from 25 metres out which Javi Varas had no chance of saving. It was a bit disappointing not to hold onto the clean sheet but that’s football and it was probably deserved considering the amount of chances they had to score throughout the match.

Just wanted to touch on some positives besides us obviously now having maximum points from three group stage matches and identifying ourselves to Europe as a force to be reckoned with.

Javi Varas
He started in goal against Depor on the weekend where we came out 1-0 losers but Javi himself, had a solid match. Had it not been for him we could have easily been down one or two more and the goal Depor scored was definitely way beyond his reach therefore no one in their right minds can attach any blame to him at all for the goal. It’s extremely encouraging knowing that we have just a strong backup keeper as our first choice one. Even against Stuttgart he came up with some crucial saves otherwise we could have very easily been down several goals and in turn I wouldn’t be here writing about our flawless record in Europe. The goal he conceded was more than out of his control and I really don’t think any keeper in their right mind could have stopped that bullet of a freekick scored by Élson.

Sébastien Squillaci
Two goals by a defender in a match? That’s extremely rare, if not unheard of. Two goals considering we were being outplayed for Sébastien can surely only shoot his confidence through the roof. It’s good to see we have a solid defender who is going to be a threat to opposing defenses off of set pieces. We’ve seriously lacked someone like that for a couple years now and it look as if Squillaci has finally integrated himself nicely with the squad and it’s paid off as you can clearly see with his confidence off the set pieces.

Jesús Navas
Once again he’s stepped up to the plate and delivered. He may have had a bit of a quiet evening against Depor but seriously, who didn’t? He got the goal which basically put Stuttgart to the sword to to speak and broke their momentum for the second time in the match, leaving them no way back into it. All around he caused havoc and once again was uncontainable by the opposing defense.

Confidence
I’ve been one of Jiménez’ biggest critics over the past few seasons hands down but lately I just stand there in awe as to how much respect he receives from the team. I can’t help but question his every decision like for instance when he took off Fabiano for Duscher. No doubt Fabiano was a bit invisible but why not replace him for Koné who has something to prove and might have performed well? Regardless of what he did or didn’t do, his decision paid off and although I hate negative defensive tactics, they were far from anything of the sort. Duscher helped stabalize the midfield which Stuttgart up until that point were dominating considering neither Renato nor Lolo are very defensive minded. I think that more faith in Jiménez on my part is definitely in order seeing as he’s bringing in the results and I have no reason to argue otherwise.

Obviously I can’t sit here and say everything about the match were positives so let me now explain what are never good signs and those are the negatives.

Invisibility
Did anyone even notice that Fabiano and Kanouté started the match? I may have been watching the match off a shitty online stream but I didn’t see either impact the game what so ever. They are supposed to be the dynamic duo we all love and I’m not sure if its because they haven’t played together much this season or whatever else but they can’t be having many of those days if we want to keep up the contention for all the competitions we’re involved in. Out of three goals, none of them were by our strikers. Fabiano so invisible he was even pulled at half to make way for a defensive midfielder. It may have just been an off day, one of which everyone is entitled to so I’m not going to make a big deal out of it but it was very obvious.

All in all, a fantastic result and surely things can only go up from here!

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Logically and historically our biggest rival has been cross-town neighbours, Real Betis. To be honest though, I’ve always considered Real Madrid to, not necessarily be our biggest rival, but definitely the team I probably hate the most.

Now don’t get me wrong, there’s no way set in stone on how to properly play football but any fan or lover of the game will know that Madrid plays pretty boring stuff. Maybe I just take it for granted that not every team in the world plays the free-flowing, quick passing, magnificent, mouth watering football that we do.

It’s just something about a team who wants to buy their success that angers me beyond belief. It’s hard to hate their El Clásico rivals Barça who develop their talent from their infamous youth academy and don’t rely upon bank loans to fund their success. Real on the other hand seem to want to buy their way into everything like we’re still living in the days of General Francisco Franco or something…

Coming off an emphatic 4-1 victory over Rangers in Scotland last week in the Champions League, I knew that the squad would be full of confidence coming back home to face one of La Liga’s “elite sides”. True enough, we didn’t disappoint.

Right from the beginning, we came flying out of the gates knowing we had a massive point to prove and that was, all this hype about Sevilla is truly warranted. We have an absolutely solid squad with the depth that we lacked in the past few years to compete with the top 2 of La Liga.

Navas was a bullet on the flank as usual as he absolutely tore apart the Real defense, most notably Marcelo who was about 5 steps behind Jesús on average. Regardless of what anyone said, Jesús Navas was definitely the man of the match.

Time after time we missed easy chances on goal with Fabiano and Konko even missing from within the 6 yard box. Finally on the 34th minute, my personal man of the match, Jesús Navas put us ahead with an unorthodox goal by his standards, smashing in a header off a Fernando Navarro cross as he rose above the useless Marcelo.

That’s how the first half ended – with us up 1-0 and in absolute control of the match.

After the break we continued where we left off, dominating who were considered the favourites coming into the match.

Negredo gave Diego Perotti a absolute sitter when he broke down the right side and put it in for our wonderkid as he took it too easily and hit it right into Casillas. Easily probably the one of the worst misses I’ve ever seen in my life. Real fans say will say it was a great save by Casillas but let’s be realistic here – Perotti basically handed it to him.

That came back to bite us in the ass as on the counter attack we gave away a useless free kick just outside our 18 yard box. Guti accurately took it and put it on the head of a jumping Pepe who headed it past Palop.

Is it just me or is Pepe the ugliest player probably in the world? What was the trying to do with his head? What a strange, strange man. If you know of someone uglier please do make a reference because as far as I’m concerned, no one can top him.

Even after the Real goal we continued to dominate possession and show why La Liga should be considered a three horse race instead of a two horse one.

It didn’t take long for our determination to pay off as in the 65th minute we got another goal through a man who had a lot to make up for his easy miss in front of goal. None other than our Brasilian veteran Renato. Now I personally as anyone who reads this blog will know, have a vert love/hate relationship with him. He will play his heart out one day only to have an absolutely shockingly bad match the next week. Fortunately for us though, he always seems to score against the mierda. A pinpoint Adriano cross resulted in Renato putting us ahead 2-1 in what was a much deserved lead considering we dominated the match entirely.

The game continued with us all over the team who spent 10 times the amount we did this summer and we closed up shop with a final result of 2-1.

The neutrals, football lovers, and all of Spain outside the capital is probably happy we won and it just shows how much progress we’ve made from previous seasons and our intent from here on in.

Our result does keep us stagnant at third place due to worse goal differential but I have no doubts that with the way we’re playing we can very easily leap frog the mierda.

A few special personal shoutouts and special mentions are as follows:

Didier Zokora who was an absolute rock in the midfield. I was very familiar with him from his time at Tottenham but never appreciated him until now. La Liga is more his style and he’s proving to be a bargain at just 9 million Euros. He’s an absolute rock in the midfield, something we lacked since the departure of Christian Poulsen. Zokora is definitely becoming a fan favourite in the Sánchez Pizjuán as well as we saw when he got the crown all riled up as he held off the big ugly Pepe in the corner towards the end of the match and ended up getting the foul call. His stability allows Renato to roam and have a more attacking mindset, something that’s resulted in the Brasilian getting off the a good start scoring-wise so far. Most importantly though, he kept Kaká absolutely silent and when you can do that to a team’s best player, you can only expect good things.

Jesús Navas who like I said, was easily man of the match. He played out of his skin and scored the first as well as passed to Adriano who crossed it in for the second goal. He was all over the pitch and gave the Real defense a headache every time he dribbled near them. A description of our prodigal son isn’t really needed if you’re a true Sevillista. He’s amazing – yes we know.

If anyone else deserves a special mention, definitely let me know. Obviously the whole team played well but I think those were definitely the two men who deserved as much.

Everyone knows that the mierda fans will come out now and make excuses about Ronaldo being injured and this, that and the other but we know that’s all bullshit. Anyone who watched the match could see that we were clearly the stronger side and came out wanting to win. We had a game plan, stuck to it, and did the business. Stop being bitter and admit that. Thanks a lot.

It’s a shitty time for a two week international break because just as we had all that momentum, we have to put it on halt until we resume league play against Deportivo la Coruña. As we know, we definitely had their number last year, even at one point beating them 3 times in only a span of 1 week but this will be far from easy also considering they’re doing very well so far. They sit in fourth, just one place behind us and only three points behind us meaning they could very easily catch up.

More about that later but for now I think we all deserve to bask in the euphoria (as if I haven’t enough).

¡¡VAMOS CAMPEÓN!!

Sorry for not having this post up earlier but the WordPress server was down yesterday as they were setting up a new layout for the “Dashboard” where you write and edit entries.

Anyways, to the news you all are waiting to hear…

If we weren’t considered a real threat coming into this competition we definitely have to be now. Sure, I like being the underdog because we get teams who don’t know that “little club” from the south of Spain until we smash them *cough* Rangers *cough*, but seriously, we’re good.

I’ve never seen a stronger Sevilla side in my lifetime and I’ve been watching this club since I came out of the womb. From the way we seem to put the ball in the back of the net effortlessly, to the great wall of Nervión which is our defense, we’re about as complete as any team out there.

We knew coming into this match that it would be anything but easy and despite being the probably favourites, Rangers are far from a pushover.

To add to what could have been a few difficulties in the match, our usual left winger Diego Perotti was out due to a slight knock he picked up against Mallorca and therefore Diego Capel started in his place. After last weekend’s thumping of Bilbao, I actually had great confidence that Capel would get the job done in place of Perotti as he was absolutely stellar. Another change from the weekend is that Sergio Sánchez was rested to make way for Konko and Dragutinović out for the recovered Julien Escudé at the heart of the defense. A surprise was that Lolo maintained his spot in central midfield when Romaric was in the squad having fully recovered. Negredo as expected did start on the bench with our legendary pair of Fabiano and Kanouté starting up top.

The first half wasn’t a direct indication of out best football. We had some glorious opportunities through Kanouté as did Rangers when they could have very easily been given a penalty.

It was in the second half where we really turned up the heat and showed Scotland and moreover Europe, exactly what we’re all about and that’s beautiful football.

Five minutes into the half we were rewarded a freekick which Lolo took quickly to Navas who then crossed in which Konko rose to head in the back of the net with an absolutely amazing header. It was just the other day that I was saying how excited I am with the prospect of Sánchez being such an amazing right back and taking over for Konko who was very inconsistent last year but I see that Abdoulay feels his position and playing time under threat so he’s starting to perform. It’s amazing to see how a bit of competition in the squad strengthens it completely and the depth we have now is absolutely mouth watering.

In the 64th minute, Fabiano and Kanouté linked up perfectly as usual and basically unlocked the whole Rangers team as OFabuloso eventually pulled the ball back for Adriano who smashed it in to put us up 2-0.

At this point we were completely in the drivers seat and added another one later when once again the Rangers’ defense was caught napping. Kanouté received the ball on the flank, had all the time in the world and sent in a perfect cross which Fabiano towered over the Rangers defender to head into the back of the net with emphasis.

3-0 and no looking back now.

Why look back when you can look forward right? Exactly what we did just 2 minutes later as this time LuFa and Fredi played a bit of role-reversal. Navas sent Fabiano in on a 2v1 with big Fredi supporting in the middle who eventually received the low ball and slotted it past the Rangers’ keeper to put us in full control at 4-0.

There’s nothing to talk about from here other than Nacho Novo scored a 88th minute consolation goal for Rangers’ which ruined our clean sheet. It was a bit of poor defending as we gave him too much space but the back line as solid all night so I can’t critique or I’d be way too harsh. It was also much too strong and well-placed for Palop to deal with so no blame attached there either.

If we had anything to prove I believe we proved it with our amazing performance in Glasgow and I may sound repetitive but we’re definitely a team to watch out for both domestically and in Europe. Having said that, the mierda A.K.A. Real Madrid visit the Sánchez Pizjuan this Sunday in a match which will definitely be our biggest test this season thus far. A win there and I’ll be in absolute ecstasy.

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It was just two years ago when we faced a much earlier than expected exit from Europe’s largest competition at the hands of Fenerbahçe in a penalty shootout that went all wrong. We’re back though and stronger than ever, we have a much deeper squad in which Jiménez mix and match to field a starting XI capable of challenging any team in the continent.

We travel to Glasgow for the first time since that historic UEFA Cup match three seasons ago when we walked out triumphant over Espanyol. It was a match which all Scots should take a look at to get an idea of just what they’ve got themselves involved with. Having said that though, this is a team who has changed much since the days when Alves missed a penalty and Martí was pulling the strings in the midfield.

It will be far from easy against the defending Scottish Premier League champions but then again, this match will be far from anything that Rangers face domestically. The SPL is generally a two horse race with the last decent outside competition coming from Aberdeen some 25-odd years ago. The “Gers” haven’t lost a match in any competition since March 15th against domestic rivals and former winners of this tournament, Celtic. Then again, to add to our favouritism once again, it will be noted that Rangers haven’t won against Spanish opposition since the 85/86 season.

The key to this match will be to contain our confidence. Since losing the first match of the season against Valencia we have gone on to win 5 straight matches in all competitions and more times than not, emphatically. Our resurgent side has shown not only that they have what it takes to respond to defeat, but also that we have what it takes to compete with the big boys of La Liga and Europe as a whole.

More good news for us as the defending Scottish Champions are also lacking in the scoring department having not scored a goal now for 293 minutes against domestic competition.

After absolutely demolishing Athletic Bilbao on the weekend we head into the land of Haggis and Irn-Bru with absolutely peaking confidence – just the way to head into a Champions League match up. Summer signings Sergio Sánchez, Didier Zokora and especially Álvaro Negredo have all impressed thus far and have basically cemented themselves in the starting XI more times than not.

Let’s get to the bit of bad news now as we’ll be without our ENTIRE Argentine contingent. Perotti still hasn’t recovered from that Achilles tendon he aggravated against Mallorca last week, Duscher is still recovering from his lengthy back injury while Fazio is out with a slight ankle knock picked up a couple weeks back. Acosta has a muscle strain and needs to undergo a further scan to dictate the seriousness of the injury and Chevantón is still out with a long term calf injury.

Okay so enough of the depressing stuff because all is good of late in Nervión. If you saw the weekend match you would have seen that two of our potentially most valuable players for tomorrow’s match played absolutely out of their skin, fantastic. Diego Capel showed this weekend just why he was not too long ago considered a regular in our lineup and Renato showed just what experience he brings to the squad. The Brasilian scored in our last Champions League against Unirea and will have to have another strong performance tomorrow if we are to overcome Rangers at Ibrox. Some more good news for us as Romaric has returned to the squad after regaining full fitness giving Jiménez more depth and options in the centre of the park. Speaking of the centre of the park, Lolo had a solid match against Bilbao giving Manolo more selection headaches (as if he didn’t already have enough) and showing exactly why Monchi was so reluctant to let him go back to Málaga.

Rangers may have drawn Stuttgart in Germany and think they have a shot being at home against us but I think anything less than a full three points will be embarrassing. If we truly want to establish ourselves among the elite sides in Europe we must get results in places where they are expected; Scotland being one of them. It will be interesting to see who gets the start up front as all three of our strikers are in red hot form.

Fabiano was back in the squad but Negredo got the nod over him to start alongside Kanouté and Zokora was replaced in the centre of midfield by Lolo. Perotti picked up a knock against Mallorca and wasn’t included in the squad meaning Capel started on the left side of the midfield. Drago also once again started in the centre of defence alongside Squillaci as Escudé is making his recovery to full fitness.

Having made those changes to the lineup we still looked strong from the get go with Renato feeding and endless supply of decent balls up to our front pair and Lolo supporting perfectly. Just 5 minutes into the match was all it took for us to take the lead as Renato hit a perfectly placed free kick into the bottom corner out of reach of Iraizoz’ outstretched arms.

Despite taking the lead, we never let up at all as just 15 minutes later, Diego Capel sent Negredo through on goal and our record signing finished with the greatest of ease and showed exactly why he’s not only the club’s record signing but also the highest earner in wages per week. Absolute class.

We carried on like a team who was really hungry; a team who wanted to prove that we’re here to stay and not just one who will let Real or Barça win the league without a massive fight. Like the German national team who is never satisfied with just a simple result but rather in absolutely demolishing their opponents, we grabbed another goal just before half as we had a freekick just outside the box which Negredo struck hard but right at Iraizoz, but the Athletic keeper couldn’t contain the shot as big Fredi Kanouté was there to knock in the rebound.

The struggle continued for our Basque opponents as Amorebieta received a second yellow for a rash tackle on our new star right back, Sergio Sánchez and was sent off.

The sending off made Athletic change their tactics to a more defensive mindset which is why despite being a man up and dominant in possession, it took us about 20 minutes to finally score once again. This time it was another quick play on the flank which saw Lolo feed Negredo on the wing who then slotted it through to Jesús Navas who smashed an unusual left footed shot to the far side of Iraizoz’ goal, way out of the goalkeeper’s reach.

Again it was an excellent buildup in the play which shows that this team really does have what it takes to compete with the big boys of La Liga. This was not only a fantastic result for our own personal results but in smashing Athletic 4-0, we set a La Liga record which is as follows.

No one in the 80 year history of the Primera División has ever won by 4 goals in San Mames.

We are goooooooooood.

This win also gives us the confidence we will need as we travel to Glasgow midweek to take on Rangers in second match of the Champions League qualifying round. A win in Scotland would not only show that we’re strong domestically but also against one of the top side’s in Europe. It would really show the progress that the squad has made under Jiménez despite all the critics over the past few seasons (myself included).

Everything is looking up for us in Nervión, we’ve certainly showed the strength we have since our opening day loss to Valencia at the Mastalla and now even sit 4 points above the team who handed us our only defeat thus far this season.

Despite Kanouté and Negredo’s prominence, Fabiano’s return to the squad is a huge return as he’s been on absolute fire for both club and country. He’s already got two goals in the league which for him has only been two matches and one in the Champions League. The competition we have up front is incredible and if he continues his form it’ll continue to push Negredo and Koné even harder to crack the starting XI.

This match will be interesting – Mallorca have been on a good run of form and find themselves in fourth place coming into this match and we started with a bump but have been more than convincing since and find ourselves in 6th with 6 points.

We really don’t have a good record against Mallorca to be honest so anything can happen but with the form we’re in I expect nothing less then all 3 points. Being at home behind our amazing fans as well, a victory is a must.

Fabiano picked up a knock last week in our Champions League match against Unirea and did not travel with us to Pamplona. Everyone knows about O Fabuloso’s recent untouchable form and it worried me that he wasn’t traveling with the team to a place where we hadn’t come away with three points since our own coach had been on the pitch but in the end, the resilience of our squad shone through again and we came away with a massive result.

Navas was rested and Perotti started in his spot on the left as Adriano started on the left side of the midfield. Drago got the start in central defense for Escudé and Sánchez started at right back again as he clearly impressed Jiménez in our Champions League fixture. A surprising start was given to Lolo as he replaced Renato in central midfield to start this match. The Brasilian scored the second goal of our triumph over Romanian champions Unirea last week in the Champions League but like many other players who started in that match, was rested.

As usual, Perotti was on absolute top form and Adriano followed suit on the opposite flank as both the wingers gave Negredo and Kanouté enough chances to make something out of. Once again Zokora was an absolute rock in the centre of midfield as he never really allowed Osasuna to materialize any dangerous attacks.

At one point Osasuna actually controlled the play and had a few chances, all of which they could not finish but that only lasted momentarily as Perotti chested down a high ball just outside the 18 yard box which Kanouté smashed on the half-volley under the Osasuna keeper to put us ahead 2-0.

Other than a little slip up against Valencia which also was the first match of the season, this team certainly looks like it has what it takes. Granted, we haven’t played any of the top sides in La Liga besides Valencia but it’s just the way we pass with such fluidity and finish with such venom. I really only expect greater things from here on in and as long as we keep our cool and stick to the game plan, we should have no problems exceeding expectations.

Once again our Brasilians got the job done for us as Luis Fabiano and Renato scored the goals that saw us win our first Champions League group stage match in more than convincing fashion. While it was only 2-0 against relatively unknown opposition, we never looked for one minute like the weaker side and the Romanians failed to threaten Andrés Palop’s goal on many occasions.

We set up just a bit differently than usual with Capel starting in place of Perotti on the left and new summer signing, Sergio Sánchez starting at right back in place of Konko. As usual, Kanouté and Fabiano were paired up top as were Zokora and Renato in the midfield.

Our Romanian opponents lined up quite conservatively with only one striker up top and five men in the midfield to try and sound out the attacks of Navas and Capel on the flanks.

Luis Fabinao had a free kick early on which gave the Urinea keeper a taste of what was to come when he forced him to make a tough save off a powerful shot. Navas and Capel did a solid job the whole first half as they ran the flanks and left the Unirea defenders on their toes wondering what was going to happen next.

We continued to dominate but just couldn’t beat the Urinea keeper until literally second before the halftime, Renato made a run down the left and eventually put in a low cross which Luis Fabiano who just happens to be in top form, jogged up and smashed it into the bottom right corner to rightfully put us ahead 1-0.

The second half started with Álvaro Negredo coming on for Kanouté who struggled greatly in this match. Our record signing almost made an instant impact but his shot was saved.

We pushed and pushed for more and finally got one when Fabiano got his head on a Navas corner but it only got as far as Renato who was standing near the goal to put it in and the Brasilian connection hooked up again to make it 2-0.

From there on we saw out the match with ease as the clear gulf in class between Romanian and Spanish football was shown. The Romanian champions were just no test for a side who finished third in La Liga last season.

We now focus on this Saturday when we resume league play against Osasuna. With Fabiano in such hot form, will the small side from Pamplona even stand a chance?

How can you not be excited when your club signs one of the most sought after players in the market? Well needless to say then that I’m absolutely enthused with Monchi’s latest steal of Negredo from the big spending mierda.

The fee was undisclosed by the club meaning it couldn’t have been a hell of a lot otherwise it would have had to be disclosed and placed on the stock market. The estimated fee is believed to be about €12 million or so and rising to €15 million depending on performances and all that junk. Of course the mierda like they always do have added a buy back clause in the deal and it really wouldn’t surprise me if they take him back next season when Van Nistelrooy’s contract expires.

This is all a bit of a shock to me as I really never imagined we had the funds to prize Negredo to Andalucía but when Fred committed himself to Fluminense earlier this week, Monchi put his money where Del Nido’s mouth is and signed probably the best available striker on the market in Negredo.

Alvaro Negredo is a proven La Liga goal scorer netting 19 goals last campaign for our fellow Andalucíans, Almería and 13 the previous campaign; he was the second highest goal scoring Spaniard last year after David Villa.

The addition of Negredo now means we have 5 strikers either signaling the departure of one or very limited playing time at best. Kanouté and Luis Fabiano are the obvious starting pair with Negredo obviously having one foot in the door to break the partnership but we can’t forget about both Koné and Chevantón who have played well (as usual) in the pre-season thus far.

In my opinion we don’t need to get rid of any strikers. Sure Chevantón will probably get the shit end of the stick and get the limited playing time but remember that both Kanouté and Koné will be gone for possibly a few weeks due to the African Cup of Nations and Chevantón and Fabiano both have a history of injuries. Last season we clearly saw that at one point, all four of our strikers were injured causing Renato and Acosta to start up front for a game of two which wasn’t effective to say the least.

With a massive signing like this one, Del Nido, Monchi and Jiménez are signaling our intent for the upcoming season where we prepare for our return to the Champions League and for a La Liga campaign which will be one to remember. We’re no where near the level of Real Madrid and definitely not even close to Barcelona who are far superior to the mierda but we’re close behind. We’re definitely the team this season not to be taken lightly.

The squad now has a total of 25 players which is way too many so there will be no more signings, thats for sure. Monchi has completed another very successful transfer window by signing Didier Zokora to strengthen our midfield which was much needed, Sergio Sánchez to solidify the right back position which we lacked since Alves’ departure and now Negredo to give us the extra fire power up front.

The squad is looking good, very good indeed.

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