Manolo Jiménez was confident going into this match saying that we would use our momentum from the Espanyol victory last week to smash our newly-bitter rivals Atléti in Nervión.

We went into the match knowing that it was basically a must-win game because we had to 1) keep up with Real, considering their recent run of impressive results, and 2) widen the gap between us and fellow strugglers Valencia.

True enough, Valencia left 2 important points in A Coruña today and that combined with our victory over Atléti keeps us in the top three with 44 points, 3 ahead of Villarreal and now but 5 ahead of Valencia.

So basically this is how the game went down.

Sevilla Atlético star Diego Perotti was given the start as Chevantón was ruled out for the season with a cyst in his knee which requires an operation. The Argentine born youngster was only one of our two Sevilla Atlético players in the squad with José Carlos being the other.

The first half started with a bang (literally) as our very own Romaric and Atléti player Luís Parea bumped heads when they both went up for a header which resulted in both players having to be substituted as the Ivorian International went off with a massive gash on his forehead and the latter on a stretcher as he was temporarily knocked out and unconscious. This saw us introduce Diego Capel who slotted in on the left side ahead of Adriano at left back and also saw Perotti move to the centre.

It went from bang to boring as neither team really found their groove in this match and as a result struggled to materialize anything dangerous.

Finally though on about the 25th minute the Uruguayan Capped striker Diego Forlán had an absolute sitter when Simão beat both David Prieto and Adriano down the left side of defense and put in a perfect low cross which was begging to be tapped in. Unfortunately for Atléti, Diego went for the smash and did exactly that, just off the crossbar. He was so confident that he started celebrating before he even hit the ball only to be thoroughly disappointed and holding his head in disgust afterwards.

We created an amazing chance of our own as MOTM Jesús Navas who just switched sides with Capel cut in from the left beating the Atléti defender but smashed his shot just wide of the goal.

The first half was one huge stalemate that ended with no score to show for it.

Youngster Diego Perotti was substituted by Manolo Jiménez who thought (along with myself) that he had a fantastic debut as a starter and was thoroughly impressed with his skill in the midfield and running on and off the ball. I can’t wait to see more of this kid in the future and he put more effort in than half the team which is always good to see. Acosta was brought on as it was a straight Argentine for Argentine youth swap and he slotted in up top alongside Kanouté pushing Renato back to a more central midfield position.

Renato who had been taking all the set-pieces all game (which were piss poor) finally realized he couldn’t cross a ball to save his life and tested Leo Franco with a shot off a free kick from distance which the Atléti keeper pushed wide. Minutes later Diego Capel broke down the left flank when we countered and when 2 defenders were drawn to him he sent in a little flick ahead of Acosta but it was a bit too far ahead as the Argentine U-20 star couldn’t catch up to it and missed the clearest chance to put us ahead 1-0.

Looking like all was over, Jiménez decided to take off Capel and give other Sevilla Atlético star José Carlos a run out. This “run out” turned out to be way more than just that as the kid made an instant impact. He cutely played with the ball in the Atléti end, touched it off to Fazio in the centre who then did put in a Xavi-like through-ball which I think was intended for Kanouté who realized he was offside so it was then left for a cutting in Navas who perfectly latched onto the end of it and flicked it over Leo Franco to put us up 1-0 in the 87th minute and ultimately sealing the game. No one deserved it more then Jesús as he worked his socks off all game and was rewarded with the ultimate reward, a goal against the same team who stole our final Champions League spot last year. El Ramón Sánchez Pizjuán erupted like crazy for the first time in a long time as our hometown hero didn’t only get us a well-deserved victory, but also past a team who we love to hate.

Even with the introduction of “El Kun” Agüero there was no time left to do anything else and the game ended 1-0 in our favour.

Top Player(s)
Needless to say Jesús Navas was our man of the match not only because he got the goal that won us the match but also because he never stopped running and anything we materialized was basically because of him. I love this kid, teams would love to have him but I thank God he suffers from serious homesickness.

I guess we could give Fazio an honourable mention as he was the one that gave Navas the perfect little through-ball that set up his picture perfect finish. He was also solid in the middle throughout the match and contained Atlético’s midfield perfectly.

Last but not least – Adriano Correia who was our stand in left back for the match and despite his early blunder which allowed Simão to dish off to Forlán for a missed tap-in he was solid and considering he was playing slightly out of position he didn’t disappoint.

Flop Player(s)
Renato once again tops this list as he was poor all night and invisible at more times than not. His set-pieces (bar the decent shot) were awful and in general he just failed to make an impact on the game.

I’m not sure what it was but I have a feeling it was the lack of proper service that made Kanouté look invisible at times as he failed to create anything dangerous and threaten the Atléti goal.

Next Saturday we travel to the Basque Country to take on Athletic Bilbao in their fortress of San Mamés. This will mark the first time within the span of less than a week that we play them. Saturday in the Liga and the following Wednesday in the second leg of the Copa del Rey semifinals. Not going to be an easy two matches by any means but if we can carry this sudden boost of momentum that we have then I can see us getting the job done when it comes down to crunch time.

¡¡Vamos mi Sevilla
Vamos Campeón!!

Going into the match Jiménez and co. knew that it really was make or break, the recent string of poor results couldn’t continue or even despite Del Nido’s confidence, he would have seen the axe. The players didn’t disappoint though, in a game where both teams crucially needed a win for two totally different reasons, we’re the only one’s that came out of it with the three valuable points.

The game started with a lot of scrappy play and both teams had some decent chances, Espanyol with the better as Nene put in a perfect low cross only for Luís Garcia to pathetically touch it into the hands of Palop, he knew it too as he kicked the goal post in utter disgust. Shortly after it was us on the attack as Romaric his a rare bullet on target but only for Kameni to parry it away. Again though the second best wing-striker combination of the match, Nene and Luís Garcia linked up when the Brazilian International send another perfect low cross only for Garcia to underestimate it thinking one of our defenders was going to get it first, then surprised it got through he attempted to slide and tap it in but by then it was too late as the ball rolled out for a goal kick. It was then the co-man of the match’s turn to try his luck as Navas out-muscled Sergio Sánchez for a 50/50 ball in the Espanyol box but smashed his attempt wide of Kameni’s goal.

The first half ended in a 0-0 draw which was fair considering both teams had equal opportunities but missed some easy chances. Unfortunately this wasn’t good enough for either side as Espanyol was staring relegation in the face especially since Mallorca picked up a victory yesterday meaning they were now rooted at the bottom of the table and we needed a win to stay in our Champions League spot and for Jiménez to stay employed.

At the start of the second half things didn’t change as Nene made one of his several dangerous runs down the left flank only to send it into Garcia who once again shot it right into the arms of Palop. Navas then tried his luck by sending in a low cross to Renato who tried a slight flick over a diving Kameni only for the Cameroon International to get a foot on it and send it out for a corner.

Then it was a moment of madness for the usually steady Andrés Palop who strangely punched out a Nene cross to Espanyol striker Coro who was sitting ready to pounce, he took a couple steps and smashed it on goal only for David Prieto to clear it off the line and on the strikers second attempt he sent it embarrassingly wide of the goal. What a relief as I really thought that could have been the game right there and considering our luck of late (more like lack of) I’m really surprised it didn’t happen.

The game took a turn for our betterment as Lola committed a stupid foul on Diego Capel which he was then awarded his second yellow card of the match resulting in his sending off. Lately we’ve seen this situation far too often where we’ve been a man up and still either lost or drawn the game, I could see the exact same thing happening yesterday.

Adriano was then substituted in for Fernando Navarro as Jiménez looked to add more offensive ability to our side who were looking to take advantage of our extra man. It didn’t take long for Adriano to make an impact either as he sprinted down the left wing beating his man and putting a perfect cross in for Renato who smashed his header against the post of Kameni, that basically summed up most of our night – terribly unlucky. Romaric then had the same poor luck as he hit a shot off the same post, I really though that the game wasn’t meant to fall in our favour.

Just when I once again for the fourth time in as many weeks gave up all hope for a victory Jesús Navas broke down the right flank and unselfishly spotted Kanouté at the top of the box, dished it off perfectly and big Freddie smashed it low into the goal past Kameni who was more than upset with his defense’s poor marking. A few minutes later it was the dangerous combo of Navas and Kanouté at work again when Jesús did a little cheeky flick over with the ball as the Espanyol defender came at him, put his head up and spotted the big Malian striker who smashed it emphatically into the goal knowing that the game was all over and we were now heading back to Nervión with three important points.

Sevilla Atlético boys Diego Perotti and José Carlos both made their debuts for the first team and looked livelier than most of our players if I’m being honest. Although they didn’t play long in the match they played with intensity making smart runs and their quick movement threw off the Espanyol defenders. It would be good to see them in some of the upcoming fixtures even if it’s only for a brief few minutes. Young Finnish phenomenon Pukki was on the bench as well but did not see any action.

Top Player(s)
Without a doubt Kanouté who smashed in two goals to lead us to our first league victory in a month and hopefully boost our confidence going into next week’s exciting battle against a strong Atlético Madrid side. But the former Tottenham man couldn’t have done it alone as his partner in crime Jesús Navas deserves just as much credit for making the intelligent runs he always seems to do and setting him up twice, with the greatest of ease. Credit needs to be given where credit is due as our infamous keeper Andrés Palop stopped Luís Garcia at point blank on several occasions and despite his horrible mixup on Nene’s cross he definitely redeemed himself with some vital stops. We’ll also give this honour to David Prieto who cleared Coro’s bullet off the line when Palop screwed up and in turn shifted the momentum in our favour, well done kiddo.

Flop Player(s)
Colombian International Aquivaldo Mosquera despite his impressive play in recent weeks had an absolutely abysmal match last night as Nene made minced meat out of him on several occasions, in general he was just too slow on and off the ball. Renato also once again failed to impress as its quite obviously he’s a poor excuse for a second striker or a centre forward. He lacks the pace and also the skill at times and missed a perfect chance to redeem himself when he hit Adriano’s corner off the post resulting in him probably being one of the worst performers last night.

This victory keeps us in third place still nine points behind Real Madrid, a massive nineteen behind Barça, and also now three ahead of Valencia and Villarreal following their draws with Málaga and Racing Santander respectively. This sees us in a decent position especially for a team that has struggled of late, there’s a long way to go in the season and anything can still happen.

We now travel back to Nervión to prepare for next Saturday’s match against Atlético Madrid who lost ground on us this week drawing a perseverant Getafe side, 1-1. Hopefully that will put a slight dent in their confidence and hopefully we will also be thinking about how they robbed us of that final Champions League spot last year to make us come out flying and push further ahead of Valencia and co.

We basically completely dominated the whole match, from start to finish we were not going to be outdone by the visitors from Castilla y León. We’ve learned from our mistakes, never take these newly promoted sides lightly, they want the victory more than we do, they have more to prove after all, their hopes of staying alive in the Primera División are relying upon it.

Today’s lineup for us was a bit different. Luisfa and Freddie started up top, Navas and Capel on their wings, Renato as the attacking midfielder, Duscher – the opposite. Young David Prieto and Escudé held down the back line while Serbian international Dragutinovic was at left back and Colombian international Mosquera (who we all thought was going to be sold) started at right back. Between the sticks was up and comer Javi Varas who replaced the suspended Andrés Palop.

We started the game with loads of energy, with Navas and Capel bursting down the wings and putting in their dangerous crosses as usual. Nothing came out of it but we were the better team by miles. Numancia had a couple chances but Varas, who was absolutely solid throughout the match kept the score level at 0-0.

The first half was like Christmas Eve – cards being given out everywhere. It did however, end scoreless. Before the second half began Romaric was brought in for Duscher who had a relatively quiet night seeing as there wasn’t much to do, and Squillaci was brought in for David Prieto who made a couple little mistakes that lead to some harmless Numancia breaks.

The second half though is when the drama really unfolded. 5 minutes after the re-start, Cisma was given his second yellow card and Numancia was now down to 10 men. After this both sides were going at each other with everything, tensions were high, and 2 minutes later Juanra went in with the highest two-footed tackle (on Capel) I’ve ever seen in my life, how he escaped without even getting a yellow card at least is way beyond me… Capel went off to the sideline in what appeared to be a bad injury but then again I realized that Diego does over-dramatize everything. He wasn’t okay, but he did play on. What added insult to injury was the Numancia player that went over to Capel while he was laying on the floor holding his leg (like he so often does!!) and slapped his face a few times. Now I’m not talking full out assault, but it was a bitch slap let’s just say. Shocking stuff.

On the 60 minute mark I was scared as Kanouté had to be substituted because of a shoulder injury he picked up on the previous play. My boy Chevantón (yeahyeah!) replaced him and made an instant impact when he just missed the end of Navas’ cross by mere milimetres. 15 minutes after this Fabiano showed us exactly why he had all of Europe’s biggest clubs lining up for his signature. He threw himself at a Navas cross and did a “bicycleta” missing the net by no more than a priest misses Sunday mass.

It didn’t matter though as in the 81st minute Navas once again (as always) put in a perfect cross on which Fabiano, Cheva, Capel and Renato were waiting to pounce on, and the latter of them actually doing so and scoring. It was the Brazilian’s eighth goal this season – a team best, and he picked a perfect time to get it too. Just as it looked like the team was going to get booed off the pitch again at the end of the match, Renato got the goal that put the pain aside. The Sánchez Pizjuán exploded as all the Sevillistas knew the match was over. When the final whistle was blown, that was the re-assurance.

After this somewhat unconvincing victory at home we are second (pending Real’s result tomorrow anyway) and in that vital direct Champions League spot. We also now look ahead to Wednesday’s clash with Valencia when we take a trip down to the ever-historic Mastalla for the first leg of the Copa del Rey quarterfinals. This is the tricky part, both of us are playing some pretty decent football and it will be a highly entertaining fixture, no doubt about that one.

Match Highlights

Team News:
After the match it was announced that Kanouté just pulled a tendon in his shoulder and the extent of his injury is not serious. Should get the OK by doctors to take part on Wednesday’s game at the Mastalla.

Javi Varas said that when he was in goal in front of the Biris at GolNorte he felt goosebumps all over his body. He said that he’s never felt anything like it and that the fans in Sevilla are simply amazing.

“No wonder Palop is such a good keeper, with the Biris behind you it’s like you’re superman”
- Javi Varas

The first half of the 2008/2009 season has officially come to a close for us here in Nervión and with 38 points we have successfully drawn our previous record for the most points in the first half of the season. This came in 2006/2007 when we also had 38 points after 19 games and in that season we ended up finishing third.

Hopefully this year we’ll get that second place spot and qualify directly for the Champions League, with the quality on our team I’m confident it shouldn’t be a problem.

Navas set the tone for the game in the first minute when he struck a volley beating Fabricio. On the 23rd minute Luis Fabiano added to the Galician’s pain as he capitalized off a defensive error, stole the ball, walked it around Fabricio, and slotted it in with ease. O Fabuloso put the first nail in the coffin on the 40th minute when the two Depor defenders crashed into each other and Fabiano was there to chip it over Fabricio, the game was over before we even reached half time.

It was definitely an encouraging display of football as everyone was getting some touches in and Depor didn’t really have any promising opportunities. Once again Jesús Navas was controlling the left flank and causing havoc every time he touched the ball, and with Capel doing the exact same on the left side, Depor didn’t know what to do. Fabiano and Kanouté were in sync and always a threat to the Depor defense, Romaric and Duscher plugged up the midfield so they couldn’t attack through there and when they finally managed to penetrate that, Crespo, Escudé, Squillaci, and Fernando Navarro played solid along the back line. A all round solid performance by my boys tonight.

On the 68th minute Omar Bravo went in studs up on Romaric which meant he was ejected with a straight red. There was no end to Depor’s troubles tonight, BELIEVE ME!!

In the 75th minute came my highlight of the match. My boy Chevantón was finally back from his knee injury that has kept him sidelined since October. If you’ve read my blog since I started you’d know that I absolutely love Cheva and think he’s the best supersub since Ole Gunnar Solskjaer. His return will hopefully spark some more goals to come in the future, but for now it was for something else.

Palop got a straight red on the 82nd minute for tripping up the Depor striker and was given a straight red. Since all three substitutions had already been made by Manolo Jiménez it meant that a player on the field would have to play in goal for the remaining 8 minutes plus added time and also for the penalty. Chevantón stepped up and volunteered to play in goal knowing that he would first have to face a penalty shot. Up stepped Pablo Álvarez and tried to place the goal in the bottom left corner but struck the post and then went out for a goal kick. What a series of events in the final minutes, probably the most exciting game this whole season.

The boys ended the game in style just killing time and passing the ball around. Will Depor just go away now? I’m sick of writing about them and seeing them, we’ve beat you three times, we’ve finished our business with you. We now move on to the quarter finals of the Copa del Rey but are not sure who we will face yet. Whoever it is, they better watch out, because with the way they’re playing, I can’t off the top of my head think of a team that can stop us.

With 3 victories in less than a week surely our confidence must be sky rocketing by now right? We now travel back to Nervión to take on strugglers Numancia in a game that means a lot. We must build off our win last weekend to Depor and try and get our league campaign back on track and running. Barça may be out of sight but I’d consider it a great insult if Real Mierda finished ahead of us, they’ve been awful this year.

There’s some big news going on in Nervión, I meant to actually post it yesterday but I ended up doing the review for the game instead. Look out for tomorrow’s entry!!!

¡¡VAMOS MI SEVILLA
VAMOS CAMPEÓN!!

It’s at times like these that I feel such pride. I support Sevilla, the same team that got relegated not too long ago, got promoted again and dominated Europe for a couple years – all of this without crazy investment and limited transfer funds! I don’t care how much you hate us, anyone with common sense will admire our achievements from both a footballing perspective and even from the point where we proved that success is obtainable without money.

I mean just look at Man City (Shitty?) they’re probably one of the richest clubs in Europe right now, or at least have the highest investment but recently were knocked out by Nottingham Forest (Championship side – equivalent to the Spanish Segunda) in the FA Cup and sit in a highly respectable 13th place in the Premier League. It’s true, money can’t buy you happiness now can it? Think Robinho is regretting his move? He might not come out and say it, but I wouldn’t doubt it.

Glory hunters never seem to amaze me. I bet 99% of foreign Manchester United fans can’t even find Manchester on a map. Same goes for Liverpool, Chelsea, Milan and Madrid. It’s not ruining the game directly, but there are very few true fans anymore.

Once again, the pride in being a Sevillista, that small club from the south of Spain who was relegated not too long ago, fought their way back into the top flight and winning those 5 trophies just felt even sweeter. I mean if you’re winning a trophy everyday, the euphoria is lost, as in the case of some of Europe’s top clubs, it’s probably not appreciated as much as it could be, but when we won I can’t even begin to describe the feeling.

Anyway, in case you’re wondering, yes, this does have a lot to do with the transfer window. Money is ruining the beautiful game, everyone knows this. The youth academies of the smaller teams are virtually useless because the big rich clubs are just going to come and submit an irresistible offer for the young up and coming stars anyway.

At Sevilla we have probably the best sporting director in all of Europe, Monchi. He has found some of the now, biggest stars in Europe who were just average kids at one time. The likes of Dani Alves who started at local Brasilian club Bahia and was scouted when he was just seen as an average right back, Fredi Kanoute, the big Tottenham Hotspur flop who came to Nervion and was putting in goals left right and centre, and of course Luis Fabiano who played for Porto and were more than happy to let him go. These three once average players have all come to Sevilla and been more than successful, they were given the time and proper environment to develop. This however is all in vain if one of the bigger clubs in Europe come calling like we saw with Alves and Barcelona. We simple couldn’t resist the 22 million Euro transfer fee that Barca offered. Same deal with Poulsen and Juventus and the 15 million Euros they gave us.

Sure, these two transfers plus the Keita one have made us an extremely rich club over the past year, and allowed us to start a development project on our stadium upgrading the capacity and making it one of the best stadiums in all of Europe but still it doesn’t take away from the fact that we developed these players into the superstars they are but the temptation of money makes it hard for us to do anything. The prestige of playing for a “big club” outweighs playing for the club that made you who you are. It’s ridiculous.

The transfer window may have just opened but already Man Shitty have splashed their cash (12 million pounds) to be exact, on Wayne Bridge, a left back who has always played second fiddle to Ashley Cole. There have been rumours of both Chelsea and Inter Milan being interested in Luis Fabiano, and Kanoute. We now know that Scolari will not be given any funds at Chelsea to buy during this window but we all know that if they really wanted something, they could get it, no problem. Same goes for Inter, probably the best team in Italy right now, they have the money and prestige of a “big club” so when they come calling, it’s hard to say no.

What’s the point of Monchi and our board finding these stars if they’re just going to get bought a couple years later when they’re in their prime? It really defeats the purpose of the transfer window and for the smaller to mid sized teams to progress is made more difficult.

Think about it. We’re a team that is not big by any means, we’ve been successful over the past 5 years or so and we are constantly fighting for the Champions League spots in the league but by no means rich. How can we expect to develop and keep challenging for these places if all our stars are being lured by the more prestigious clubs? How can we even buy other stars if they are being pursued by other top clubs? Who would a player rather choose, Sevilla or AC Milan? I hate this and its slightly degrading to my own team but this is what football has come to, it’s sad.

I often think to myself just how long it will be before Navas and Capel are tapped up by some other European powerhouse… Just look what happened to Sergio Ramos, Julio Baptista, and Jose Antonio Reyes, all moved on to Real, with only one of them eventually succeeding. I’m sure if Puerta was still alive, he’d be one of the most sought after left backs in Europe, the boy was pure class. Our youth system has produced all these great players and only Navas is still with the club. David Prieto is a promising centre back, what if he becomes a world beater? Guess he’s not staying at Sevilla either.

The transfer window was introduced in attempts for clubs to strengthen their squad before the second half of the season, but it has now turned out that it is more of the same. The rich get richer and the poor get poorer. How many times have we seen this throughout history? Now it’s happening in football.

A game where you totally outplay a much weaker opponent but have nothing to show for is an extremely frustrating day indeed. We found this out first hand today when we took on Osasuna at home, completely dominated, pulled ahead by a goal, only to concede last minute and have nothing to show for it.

Luis Fabiano was included in the squad but was a substitute due to the flu and its times like these that I miss him most…

The game got off to a somewhat slow start with a lot of scrappy play and neither team really enjoyed good possession. We didn’t go without some amazing chances though as Navas tested the Osasuna defense with one of his ever-teasing crosses which found the head of Kanoute, who headed it just wide. Totally unlike him really, I’ve never seem him miss from that close, pretty ridiculous considering it would have given us the initiative to grab the game by the scruff of its neck and possibly go on and put in a couple more before the half. Shortly after, Romaric hit a left footed missile towards goal which just flashed wide, it could have possibly beaten the keeper, but either way, it was good to keep the pressure on. A few minutes after that Kanoute was brought down in the box in what appeared to be an obvious foul but nothing doing said the ref as play was waved on. If you look at the replay closely it does appear as it was an obvious foul seeing as the Osasuna player went right through him and tripped him before he could receive the foul. I know La Liga reffing is garbage and that is why I’m never shocked with these kind of calls anymore.

We went into half time with the momentum in our favour when we got out back on the pitch it showed. We started to play like Sevilla again. The style of football that we were known for, moving the ball up the wings and crossing it into Kanoute or Renato, totally catching the Osasuna defense off guard every time. Finally a breakthrough. A cross came in from the left wing, Renato being too short missed the header, but it was perfect as Navas darted in, controlled, and bang, golazzo. A perfect low shot in the bottom left corner out of the reach of Roberto. Navas was playing well all game and it was good to see him get the breakthrough goal; thoroughly deserved. A few minutes later Navas had another attempt but it was no where near as good or accurate as the first one, way over the net it flew.

A bit of controversy after this as Adriano was subbed out and obviously pissed off about it. As he headed for the sidelines where Capel was ready to enter, Romaric tried to console him and shake his hand but was just brushed off, the same when he got to the bench, the Sevilla staff tried but were brushed off. In my opinion it’s a fair reaction, getting subbed out in the 63rd minute after being one of the biggest threats on the pitch is aggravating and unjust. I really hope this won’t affect his position in the starting lineup or anything like that because he’s been probably our most consistent performer all season.

After the introduction of Capel, things started to slow down. We were taking our time on the ball, and despite passing it around with the utmost confidence, we were also allowing the pressure to mount on ourselves. Fazio was later introduced for Duscher who had a solid game in the defensive midfield slot and Crespo for Drago allowing Navarro to go back to his favoured left back position. With all these unnecessary substitutes we turned into a more defensive side and the pressure was mounting more and more as the last 15 minutes or so ticked on.

Osasuna almost scored through a play where our defense seemed to be half asleep. Navas seized control of the game though and immediately on the counter attack almost scored only to be a bit off balance and hit it straight at Roberto.

From heroes to zeroes it was as Osasuna snatched a goal in the 91st minute. A ball that seemed to be harmless flew in, the original shot was shanked well wide, but Pandiani was sitting sweetly behind our once again, fast asleep defense for the perfect deflection.

Some last minute drama though as we won a corner at the other end. Navas put in another perfect cross, Squillaci flicked it on nicely with a back heel, Kanoute came in, toe punted it, the keeper got the slightest of touches and it just about hit the inside of the crossbar to stay out. Extremely unlucky, yes I know.

My verdict on this match is simple. We suck. 2 points from 2 matches against the 2 bottom teams. Those right there are not statistics good enough for a team that wants to not only qualify for the Champions League, but do well in it too. These are supposed to be the matches where we try to make up ground on Barca, not lose any more. We only have ourselves to blame, we didn’t take the opportunities in the match when they arrived and because of it we get screwed with a last minute goal and we’re sitting in fourth place.

From here we play Depor at home on Thursday in the Copa del Rey in another must win match. I can’t emphasize the importance on this match to get us back to our winning ways. Depor is going to be one hell of a tricky match though as they’ve been on amazing form of late. Like Fabiano said earlier this week “Sevilla need to be Sevilla in order to win”, if we can play like I know we can, no doubt, we’ll win.

I wish these fixtures were as easy as they seem but unfortunately they aren’t. Osasuna won their game against Getafe last week in an emphatic 5-2 display. Our peformance however, not so emphatic, a 0-0 draw with struggling Mallorca is definitely something we might look back on and regret. We’re way better than that, taking nothing away from Mallorca or anything but we deserved better. We can’t afford to drop points against any of the “lower” teams if we want to keep pace with this year’s phenomenal Barcelona side.

Fabiano said it best when interviewed about tomorrow’s game. “We have an important game coming up which we should win. With respect to Osasuna, Sevilla has to be Sevilla.” I couldn’t agree more, and this is why we have lost stupidly this year and its becoming a huge concern. We have to play the style that we’re good at and comfortable with. So many times this season we’ve tried to go up the middle or put in a bunch of long high balls. That isn’t us, we play our best football down the wings utilizing Navas, Capel or Adriano and then putting in the crosses for Kanoute and Fabiano to poach upon. It’s been clear a few times this year that our strikers, especially Kanoute, have become very frustrated with their lack of opportunities, but in all honesty it’s not their fault, our midfield has been really hit or miss this season so far. We need to play simple football, the same style that won us 5 trophies in 15 months and impressed Europe and the world. Simplicity is beautiful, let’s keep it that way.

Let’s be honest here, I hate to be cocky or arrogant but we are a much better side than Osasuna is. It’s actually quite funny because it seems like just yesterday that I was watching a Sevilla v Osasuna semi-finals in the UEFA Cup semi-finals to see who would progress to the finals. I remember it being a hard match, and although we won it was no walk in the park. We have developed quite the rivalry ever since. They had a really strong team that year and since I don’t follow them I don’t understand how they have become so bad. Have they lost a bunch of key players I don’t know about? I know they did have Carlos Vela at one time, but he’s really young so surely he couldn’t have made that much of a difference. Anyhow, it doesn’t really matter, anything less than a win tomorrow isn’t acceptable, we need to take advantage of these struggling teams.

This match became more important today when Valencia handed Atletico a 3-1 defeat. This puts Valencia in second with 33 points but us in third with 31 points and hopefully with a victory tomorrow we’ll be back in second where we belong.

Some bad news however as Luis Fabiano is a doubt to play tomorrow as he has a cold which seems to be quite contagious around the football world recently. He is included in the squad but will not start. Also, Mosquera is out as well with an ankle injury that he picked up against Espanyol several weeks back. The pain has re-occurred and he will sit out one more week to hopefully be ready for the next match.

The players called up for tomorrow’s match by Jimenez are; Palop, Javi Varas, Crespo, Escudé, Squillaci, Fernando Navarro, David Prieto, Dragutinovic, Duscher, Romaric, Maresca, Renato, Jesus Navas, Capel, Fazio, Adriano, De Mul, Luis Fabiano and Kanoute.

If you’re watching the game tomorrow look out for the sea of red and white flags in the crowd as President José María del Nido requested we bring in the new year with the ever-strong support we’re known for.

A match report will follow tomorrow’s game. Hopefully it’ll be all good news for us Sevillistas.

We went into Valladolid looking to rebound back from two consecutive defeats to Málaga last weekend in the league and SD Ponferradina on Wednesday in the Copa del Rey. I can assure you, this was definitely not what we wanted to leave Valladolid with… A rediculous call by the ref was all it took to send us back to Nervión with nothing to show for.

The game started amazing with some world class vision by Romaric to spring Navas on the right who lead a 4 on 1 break whom which then touched it to Renato who ever so calmly slotted it into the net. It only took 8 minutes for us to get another goal which we could actually say was a GOLAZZO. Some amazing buildup play by Luis Fabiano who passed off to Romaric, who then put it out to Maresca on the right wing who crossed perfectly to the foot of Navas who scored in style with I’d say, a half scissors. Luis Fabiano was showed a yellow card on the play for apparently “overly celebrating” which does not make sense what so ever because that should have meant Renato, Navas, Romaric and the rest of the team should have also considering they were all huddled up… Rediculous.

We were all over Valladolid, they didn’t even have a single attempt on goal at this point. Fabiano was sent in on goal alone when he moved around Asenjo only to be slightly knocked down by the Valldolid last man. Apparently this knock was not sufficient enough for a penalty to be called so therefore Fabiano who was already on a yellow, received another which then meant he was red carded and we were now down to 10 men.

This brings about my important question of the day – Who, at 2 goals up with only approximately 30 minutes played, would go down unfairly and beg for the penalty, especially in Fabiano’s position where he had already got around the keeper and just needed to softly touch it into the net? No one, well at least not Fabiano, he did get knocked and even the slightest knock when travelling at full speed is enough to knock anyone down, especially if it is from behind like it was in this scenario. It’s complete bullshit and as you know it, this was the turning point in the match. No, my rant isn’t over. OK, I understand that diving or “simulation to gain an unfair advantage” is against the rules of the game and results in a yellow card being given out but then why wasn’t Navas given one in the second half when he went down “softly” in the Valladolid box? What about Canobbio when Squillaci won the ball off him in the box and the ref told him to get up? Why weren’t these yellow card worthy but Fabiano’s was? What warrented this? Once again, REDICULOUS.

From this point on Valladolid obviously had the advantage as we were down to 10 men. Before the half time whistle could be blown González scored off a header which was also poorly defended by both Konko and Squillaci.

Some more bad news as Duscher was replaced at half time by Fazio after complaing about terrible discomfort while he was running in the first half. Things only got worse when Sesma’s original shot took a funny bounce off Escudé which in turn made Palop go the wrong way and then Canobbio fairly easily put it in to level the game at 2 goals each. Once again, the misery and pain was not over as in the 63rd minute, Fernando Navarro fouled Pedro León and up stepped Canobbio to score an absolute GOLAZZO way out of the reach of Palop in the top right hand corner which hit the underside of the crossbar and bounced in.

Navas as I noted earlier had an appeal for a penalty late in the match. Personally I think he went down rather easily, but if this was the case then why not a booking to go along with his simulation? Luis Fabiano’s red card, unless successfully appealed will mean once again that we are without any out and out strikers and will be forced to play Renato up top with Romaric for our UEFA Cup clash on Thursday when we travel to Belgium to take on Standard Liege (or Standard Lieja en Español) which will definitely be a make or break game, not in the sense of elimination, but if we do lose it will mean we have lost 3 consecutive games in 3 different competitions. We can’t afford to let our morale drop any lower and a win against Standard Liege will hopefully allow us to go back home with not only 3 points in the right direction for our UEFA Cup campaign, but also with high spirits when we play our fourth Andaluz derby this Sunday at El Ramón Sánchez Pizjuán against Recreativo de Huelva.

Luckily Villareal and Atlético drew as well as Valencia and Recreativo which helped keep the top of the table close and leave us only 3 points behind Valencia for that coveted first place in La Liga. Of course it is still early and there is a lot of time for us to win the league but I believe we must stay focused and not lose to these “smaller” teams anymore if we want to think of achieving such things. Sure it’s fútbol and these things happen, but now we must get back to the hard work we have been doing in the past few weeks and focus on not only the league but also the UEFA Cup and Copa del Rey competitions.

No point on reminiscing about lost opportunities but rather to look forward to our first round Copa del Rey encounter against SD Ponferradina on Wednesday and even though it is away I really don’t see them causing us any trouble or problems. Also some other good news as both Diego Capel and Ivica Dragutinović have now returned to full training and should be fit by next weekend or so.

Anyway, to the match, Kanouté (who had a stand out performance) scored twice, on the 37th and 67th minute to put the game way out of reach, and easily push us into the next round. Some other notable standout performers were Adriano who controlled the left wing for the absent Diego Capel, and Duscher who was a rock in the midfield.

So we’ll end it like this… Attention everyone, Attention! The Kings of Europe are back, please feel free to try and stop them… if you can that is…