Sevilla 2-Steaua Bucuresti 1–Capel terrorizing, Luis Fabiano missing, and Keita running the show

By: Ryan | October 23rd, 2007

A newly determined Sevilla saw off Steaua Bucuresti 2-1 today at the Ramón Sánchez Pizjuan in Matchday 3 of the Champions League.

Since I was let go early from my Corpus Linguistics class, I was able to see the entire second half and to me, the jury is still out.

Sevilla started in the normal 4-4-2 like this

Palop

Dani Alves–Mosquera–Drago–Adriano
Jesus Navas–Poulson–Keita–Diego Capel
Kanouté–Luis Fabiano

I’m glad to see that Diego Capel is back in the lineup and that makes me believe Juande was resting Capel last weekend against Levante. I love the pairing of Jesus Navas and Dani Alves. Poulson is solid in the middle, and with Julien Escudé out still, Mosquera and Drago are solid in the middle.

The first half I only caught up on thanks to the live feeds on Marca and on AS.

Sevilla came out firing, and it wasn’t long before they netted their first goal. On 5 minutes, Diego Capel made a great move up the left side beating the Steaua defender before firing a cross over to a wide open Kanouté, who calmly headed the ball into the empty net. Kanouté needed a goal to get back on track after the Mali incident and this was how to do it.

Diego Capel almost had another goal on 8 minutes, but his low cross evaded everyone and went out of play.

In the 14th minute, a Poulson interception at midfield led to a Dani Alves pass to Kanouté, who ended up falling on the play. The ball split the Steaua defense and ended up at the feet of a marginally-onside Luis Fabiano, who beat the keeper and hammered the ball into a Steaua defender and into the open net. The goal remained Fabiano’s as the ball deflected in off the defender and it was not played in.

Sevilla continued to dominate the first half and Luis Fabiano almost had his second on a well served free kick from Dani Alves.

The second half was a bit different. Many accounts say Sevilla continues to dominate the game, but it was not that clear in my eyes. Sevilla did have the majority of possession and maintained their attacking style, but they also were a bit shaky in the back. The back four defended well against the ground attack of Steaua, but when Steaua decided to attack in the air, it was a bit rough. Sevila were caught napping a few times and the defense was tested but held tough.

In the 63rd minute Mosquera got caught back on an offsides trap and Constantin Iacob got free and took a crack at goal. Mosquera was able to block the shot, but the ball careemed into the middle of the box, where Peter chipped the ball over a recovering Andres Palop.

Sevilla almost countered as Diego Capel made a great individual run in the 66th minute and there was a clear handball in the box, but the ref was not having any of it.

Luis Fabiano had at least 3 chances to make the game 3-1, but he failed to convert. He had a wide open header on 75 minutes that sailed wide and he also didn’t convert on a clear chance at the end of the game.

The second half as a whole Sevilla played a bit scared and the entire time, I was saying to myself that a draw could easily happen. It’s one of those games were one break and a cheeky chip and it’s 1 point and not 3. But we held on to survive.

How we played

Jesus Navas played sensational on the left hand side infront of Dani Alves. He constantly was making runs up the flank and threatening the Steaua right back. He was able to draw a Yellow Card, which led to a free kick deep in Steaua territory.

Dani Alves had a great return to form and this was the first game all season that he looked like the Dani Alves of old. He had a few well placed free kicks and set up Luis Fabiano on two separate occasions that were not converted by the striker.

Keita was the heart of the midfield and held strong the entire game. He won numerous balls and was consistently distributing the ball to the wings as a good center mid should. He also had a rocket that rang off of the post in the first half.

Sevillista del Día

Diego Capel was by far the SDD for me. AS agrees as well. He was the most active all match and made three notable individual efforts that resulted in one goal, and an obvious handball in the box that was ignored. At one point I wrote in my notes that he was ‘a bit young’ as he was dispossessed a few times on the left. After a few minutes it was clear that he was trying to do too much himself, and as he moved the ball around a bit more often, he was able to find space and create more chances. He was all over poor Steaua defender Marin all night, and Marin was forced to foul him more than once to stop him from creating more. What a game from the 19 year old.

All in all, it was a solid effort by Sevilla. The intensity could have been there all game, but when you are trying to get 3 points so desperately, sometimes you get into a defensive mindset. All that is clear is that with Arsenal’s 7-0 trouncing of Slavia Prague, it’s almost clear as to who will be advancing on from Group H.