Here we go again…

It was a bad night for Spain, where both Racing Santander and Deportivo lost their opening UEFA Cup matches but it was all celebrations down in the Sánchez Pizjuán where Sevilla handed former German Bundesliga champions Stuttgart a 2-0 defeat. The scoreline does not accurately reflect the match though, and even with the absence of Kanouté, Fabiano, Chevantón, Koné, Diego Capel, and Dragutinović we still were on top of the match at all times. Jímenez started with a rather odd lineup that placed Romaric alongside Renato at the top with the midfield consisting of Acosta on the left, Fazio and Adriano in the centre, and of course Navas on the right. The back four was pretty obvious with Fernando Navarro starting on the left, Escudé and Squillaci in the centre, and Konko starting on the right.

It didn’t take long for us to get on top as Romaric was fouled on the edge of the box in the 15th minute, then from which he converted a powerful freekick in the top left corner, way out of Lehamann’s reach. It only took 60 seconds later for Renato to double the lead when he dove to get on the end of a pin-point cross delivered by Abdoulay Konko. Renato did hurt his nose on the play, but was able to continue and played most of the match before being replaced by Maresca in the 62nd minute.

Not all was good on the night though as Acosta had to be substituted in the 21st minute because of an ankle injury he picked up on some scrappy play after the second goal. Good news is that after a scan of the ankle, it only appears to be a slight strain and although he might not be able to play this weekend, he should be fit for next week. This however gave way for Tom De Mul, the 22 year old Belgian sensation of the Beijing Olympics whom which was a rock on the left hand side of the midfield and also created a few chances for himself and his team mates. De Mul was quoted as saying after the game that he was happy to make his season debut and that although he did not play much last season he hopes his outstanding performance in the Olympics earlier this year will show just how valuable a player he is to Sevilla.

Stuttgart did actually outshoot us 8-4 but then again, none of those went in the net, so who the hell cares. The Andalucían born Gómez did come close to pulling one back for the German side though when he smashed a shot off Palop’s post in the 63rd minute. It just was not to be though as Sevilla for the most part cruised through the match for the convincing 2-0 victory.

There were many outstanding performances tonight but I personally just want to tip my hat off to Tom De Mul who came on for the injured Acosta and dispite not playing much last season or so far this year, has never wined, or moaned about anything, kept a positive state of mind and when he does go on he gives it 110%, a type of player that is definitely worth having on a team not only for his ability on the pitch, but the attitute he brings to the dressing room aswell. Also young Sevilla Atlético star Fernando Rodríguez came on for Navas in the 75th minute and looked pretty lively down the right flank, also good to know we have some cover for this position considering that because of the UEFA Cup, Copa del Rey and the league there will be many games and someone that runs as much as Navas will obviously need some rest sooner or later. And last but not least, the whole back line who played an amazing offside trap which caught Gómez 6 times in total. In particular though to the 3 Frenchmen who hold it down week in and week out at the back and have been solid thus far, Konko, Squillaci, and Escudé, keep doing what you do, 8 games no goals conceded… you must be doing something right.

This victory at home now means we have NOT conceded a goal for 8 straight matches which is a club record and Palop now also holds the club record as a goalkeeper for the most minutes played without conceding a goal. We will travel to Málaga on Sunday for another Andaluz derby and will look to continue our amazing form as well as push to become first place in the league ahead of Valencia. We will most likely still be without our 4 main strikers although Fabiano is said to be almost in game shape and may play. If Romaric and Renato play together on Sunday and do exactly what they did today, I have no doubts whatsoever that we’ll be walking out with another 3 points.

Lineups:

Sevilla: Andrés Palop, Abdoulay Konko, Sébastien Squillaci, Julien Escudé, Fernando Navarro, Jesús Navas (Fernando Rodríguez 75′), Adriano Correia, Federico Fazio, Lautaro Acosta (Tom De Mul 21′), Renato (Enzo Maresca 62′), Ndri Romaric

Stuttgart: Jens Lehmann, Christian Träsch (Ciprian Marica 46′), Khalid Boulahrouz, Matthieu Delpierre, Ludovic Magnin, Roberto Hilbert, Pável Pardo, Thomas Hitzlsperger, Arthur Boka (Sebastian Rudy 74′), Mario Gómez, Martin Lanig (Elson Falcão 57′)

Category: Team News

Tags: Team News

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