Sevilla 4-1 Valladolid; “Flashback”

By: Anthony | March 23rd, 2009

So I’m finally back after a week of vacation and man does it ever feel good. So much has happened in the past while so for this whole week I will be writing at least one article per day to show that I still got love for the blog.

Anyway, back to the important stuff – our thrashing of Real Valladolid. We showed what Sevilla is all about and signs that the team is coming together perfectly, things are more than looking up in Nervión.

After last week’s hard earned draw in Málaga against our Andalucían rivals, we lined up against a resurgent Real Valladolid side at home in hopes of further securing that highly desired Champions League spot. We knew it wasn’t going to be an easy task though as we lost to Valladolid 3-2 earlier this year in Castilla in an eventful match where Fabiano was wrongly shown red which caused us to lose a match in which we were leading 2-1.

Both teams actually came out flying when the match started with Valladolid having the first chance through Uruguayan International Fabio Canobbio when he smashed a freekick towards the top corner but Palop just about touched the ball away. Right after however, on the 7th minute we struck through Kanouté when Romaric released the big man and after his perfect first touch, he hit a low drive past the sprawling arms of Villar.

Just when it looked like we were going into the half stuck at 1-1, Jesús Navas sent in a perfectly weighted knee-high cross which Kanouté hit on the volley to put us ahead 2-1.

The second half started just as the first half ended – with us dominating. Our stand-in right back Adriano sent a world class through ball to our world class striker Luis Fabiano and the man with the new hair finished perfectly, taking it around Villar and slotting it in from quite the acute angle. Our Brazilian sensation had a chance to double his tally when his fellow countryman Renato sent a cross in which young Argentine Diego Perotti headed into the box but OFabuloso could only hit a header of his own against the Valladolid post. On the 70th minute Fabiano was substituted as the faithful Sevillistas chanted his name and gave him the round of applause he deserved. On came Arouna Koné who made his season debut after a long spell on the sidelines due to a terrible foot injury.

A couple minutes later was all it took for Kanouté to complete his hat-trick when Fernando Navarro hit in a cross on which our big man got his head on the end of – GOLAZZO.

The game was all over from here but Victor tried to pull one back for Valladolid but Dragutinovic cleared it off the line to keep the score at 4-1. This victory means we haven’t lost since we did to Betis *shudders* in early February.

The Good
Kanouté and Fabiano continue to impress as the dynamic duo we know they are and are starting to show why they scored so many goals last year. It really makes me wonder what could have been if they both would have been healthy for the whole year, we would have probably been in second and possibly even challenging for the title.

The Bad
We failed to keep a clean sheet, which I guess isn’t the end of the world but it definitely would have been nice. Once again a small lapse in defending cost us and we really need to tighten up at the back or some of the stronger sides could really punish us.

The Ugly
You’re not Didier Drogba or Giovanni Dos Santos so for God’s sake Luis, shave that ugly stuff off your head. His haircut is honestly one of the worst I’ve seen but if it works for him I guess that’s all that matters.