Sevilla 1-0 Patético Madrid; “Oh My Jesús!!”

By: Anthony | February 22nd, 2009

Sure we left it to the 87th minute but who better to score it than our most consistent performer all season and my secret man-crush? This kid played out of his skin all game and scored a goal which was more than deserved.

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!!