Derbies and Cup Draws and Close Calls, Oh My!

By: Ryan | January 4th, 2008

¡Feliz Año Nuevo Sevillistas!

Just a quick roundup on what’s happened in Nervion over the last few days.

—This weekend brings the ever anticipated Sevilla Derby against Betis and Sevilla. This is one of the biggest derbies in La Liga. In the first division, Sevilla is 35-26-17 while Betis is 26-35-17. Much like most derbies in Spain, this one divides the city in two. The stadiums are literally about a 30 minute walk from each other, and the city divides in half and chooses a side.

Anything can happen in these games, remember last year when Juande Ramos was knocked unconscious by a one-liter bottle tossed from a Betis fan last year. That incident caused the game to be suspended and replayed later on behind closed doors.

I remember the following day at the gym there was a massive manhunt for the fan who tossed the bottle. The footage was on every news station in Spain

Here is the video in case you haven’t seen it.

—The biggest thing out of Sevilla is the draw for the Copa del Rey. In the next round we will get the dubious distinction to play Barcelona on January 9th and then again on the 16th. These games will be a dogfight for Sevilla and will truly show if they are the team of old or if we are still going to have our problems in the new year. Luckily the games come before the African Cup of Nations when we lose Kanouté, Kone and Keita to the tournament.

Jose Maria del Nido said

“teniendo la sensatez deportiva de saber que nos enfrentamos a uno de los dos grandes, la mala suerte es para el Barcelona, que va a caer en octavos de Copa (Barcelona has bad luck, they are going to fall in the quarterfinals of the Copa del Rey”

—To even get to the draw against Barcelona for the Copa del Rey, Sevilla faced off against CD Denia and barely squeaked out a 4-3 win, thanks to a Kanouté penalty in the 91st minute. Yet again this gives me the feeling that our New Year’s break wasn’t everything it should have been. Highlights are below.