Recreativo v Sevilla Preview; “Back in Business”

By: Anthony | April 3rd, 2009

So a long week of international duty is over and we’re looking to get back in business and continue our stunning league form from before the break.

Last time we played Recreativo we were in a bit of a slump but fortunately for us we came away with an unconvincing 1-0 victory. The scorer was none other than Kanouté himself, the man who is going to be in Nervión for the next 3 years and look to take us beyond expectations as well as establish ourselves as one of Europe’s elite teams.

This weekend traveling to Huelva won’t be easy seeing as both teams have something to prove and of course it is an Andalucían derby. Recre sits in 17th place, just one spot out of the dreaded drop zone and we sit in 3rd on 54 points, 6 ahead of 4th place Villarreal and 11 ahead of 5th place Atlético.

Things have been good in the Andalucían capital of late as we’re sitting in 3rd place pretty comfortably with no other competitions to bother us and therefore meaning we can solely focus on La Liga. The only thing bothering me personally is Jiménez’ name flying around in the papers like he is some kind of criminal who needs to be removed from Nervión. The man started the season solid, hit a huge bump but has put us back on track and if anything exceeded expectation in the league. Sure it probably doesn’t excuse him from our disastrous exits from both the Copa del Rey and the UEFA Cup but we can’t go around like the Mierda and sacking our managers left, right and centre. Just this past week Marseille coach Eric Gerets has been linked to us and also the recently successful Turkish national team manager Fatih Terim also rumoured to be interested in the Sevilla job.

Jiménez may have had his troubles this year but he has done more than steady the ship, he has made us a La Liga wrecking crew and it looks clear that if hadn’t had so many injuries this season we would have found some consistency.

Kanouté and Luis Fabiano have been in stunning form of late but the Brasilian International was injured while on duty and will be out pending assessment of his minor knock he picked up. Sevilla Atlético star José Carlos has been called up to the squad in place of O Fabuloso but it is the Ivorian International Koné who looks like he will be given the start alongside big Fredi. This is good for Arouna as he could get the chance to show Manolo he still has what it takes to play for the rojiblanco after coming back from that horrible injury.

I don’t see Recreativo as much of a threat to be honest and regardless of Fabiano being out for this tomorrow’s clash I still think we’ll walk out of Huelva with an easy three points. We will also have a chance to gain ground on that coveted second spot as Real play Málaga which is never an easy match.