Sevilla v Almería Preview – Sunday GolTV 5pm Premier

By: Anthony | March 8th, 2009

Just like every game of late this game is definitely an important one. Not only do we look to catch Real who dropped a couple points in their draw with Atléti today but also this game is one in which we either pick ourselves up off the ground and show what we’re really made of or let that embarrassing 3-0 defeat in San Mamés ruin the rest of our season.

Our exit from the Copa del Rey obviously brought Manolo Jiménez’ critics back out and most reports signal that he will be headed for the exit door come summer. This game is one for Manolo to show he still has what it takes to lead us to the places we need to be and moreover show that he still has much to contribute to the club.

El Ramón Sánchez Pizjuán hasn’t been a kind place to us this season and although we proudly call it home, we’ve done better elsewhere. Tomorrow though regardless of what the statistics say we’re playing at home to a decent Almería side.

While we are trying to keep our eight point lead in the Champions League qualification places Almería have European aspirations of their own, sitting eight points behind a Europa League qualification spot. That being said places all the more emphasis on the importance of this match for both sides.

In the reverse fixture earlier this year we travelled to our fellow Andalucíans and left with the maximum points as Adriano grabbed the winning goal.

Today’s match like as most of this season, we will see many players out of the squad due to injuries. Our squad has been injury plagued all year and tomorrow, Fazio, David Prieto, Koné and Crespo are the ones who have fallen. Colombian International Aquivaldo Mosquera is suspended for the match which thins out our back line even more.

Some good news though as French Capped Julian Escudé is back from his back injury and Drago along with Maresca return to the squad. Luis Fabiano is included in the squad after playing comfortably for most of Wednesday’s Copa matchup and young Argentine Diego Perotti stays with the squad for the 7th game running.

Our Goal
Coming into this season, myself like many others didn’t really know what to expect of this Sevilla side. Being a force in pre-season and repeating that form in the league are two different stories so I tried not to get my hopes up. After two months of going undefeated in the league though I couldn’t help but feel the utmost optimism. It honestly looked as if we were never going to be defeated but then of course that dreadful night against Málaga changed everything.

Here we sit though on March 8th, 2009 having been knocked out of the UEFA Cup during the group stages ending our hopes of a third trophy in four years and then of course the Copa del Rey heartbreak suffered a mere few days ago at the hands of Athletic Bilbao causing us to be solely in the running for the league. Barça has been near unstoppable this season so winning the league is basically impossible.

It’s hard to find optimism out of all these things but “El Presidente” José Maria del Nido and Brazilian International sensation Luis Fabiano have set the record straight regarding our objectives for the rest of this year.

The President said this season is far from a failure and that our main objective at the beginning of the season was to qualify for the Champions League next year, something we are currently in a good position to do.

Luis on the other hand said that if Sevilla do not finish in third place the season will be an absolute “disaster”. He did then go on to say that he doesn’t see why we can’t because the quality is obviously there and that injuries have plagued our season so badly which resulted in a few bad games.

With Real’s draw against Atléti today and Villarreal’s win over Espanyol we now sit 10 points out of second and 2 points ahead of the Yellow Submarine in third place.

Tomorrow could very well signal where we’re headed for the rest of the season.

Vamos Campeón!!