Sevilla v Betis Preview, Saturday 4PM GolTV; “Battle of Andalucía”

By: Anthony | February 6th, 2009

Disappointment was definitely an understatement to describe the first derby this year down the road in Betis’ excuse of a stadium. It was slow, boring, and while it never lacked intensity, it was definitely a poor display of football especially for two teams who hate each other and would love to have won. I can’t lie, we both didn’t deserve it, the opportunities weren’t there and as a result neither team came away with anything more than a point for the efforts (or lack of).

After the Christmas break we’ve been less than convincing in our performances both in the league and in the Copa del Rey. Recently we’ve just about scraped past Valencia and Athletic Bilbao in the Copa and lost to Sporting Gijón and Racing Santander in the league, quite embaressing to say the least. But tomorrow however, all will be forgotten as the Andaluz derby has more intensity than a cup final. Fights are bound to start, tempares bound to flare, and players bound to be booked. This match isn’t for our position in the league, it’s merely for bragging rights and pride.

Luckily over the past few weeks Betis has been having a few problems of their own, having been knocked out by Mallorca in the Copa del Rey and also drew fellow league strugglers Getafe last weekend after at one point holding a two goal advantage. Betis sit in 16th place more than half way through the season and hopefully tomorrow we can put one of the many nails into Betis’ coffin (relegation anyone?).

Despite having a shaky start to the second half of the season we saw midweek what our side is capable of and although the scoreline against Athletic Bilbao doesn’t necessary show this, we outplayed them by miles and definitely deserved a victory. We played a quick touch game, the stuff we’re good at and it was clear on the field that the players were having a good time as they played the best I’ve seen since before Christmas. Jiménez I’m assuming will start the same lineup he did against Bilbao because Luis Fabiano is still injured so Kanouté will start up top with Chevantón or Renato although considering Acosta’s midweek stellar performance he may get the nod ahead of his two fellow South Americans. Navas and Capel who were amazing midweek as they’ve been all season will start on the flanks and look to continue their good run of games this season.

Recent history suggests this match is going to fall easily to us seeing as Betis hasn’t defeated us since 2006, exactly 9 derbies ago. Of course we should take nothing for granted as they will come out flying trying to beat the best team in Andalucía and dislodge us from our current Champions League qualification position in third spot.

Team News:
Fazio and Maresca trained normally with the team this week suggesting that they could very well be near full recovery and will be included in the squad tomorrow for the derby. Also Chevantón and Crespo trained but still suffered slight discomfort so they will both be game-time decisions in whether to be included in the squad by Jiménez or not.

Earlier this week on February 4th, Sevilla Atlético forward Teemu Pukki came on in the 67th minute for Finland in their 5-1 demolishing at the hands of Asian giants Japan. Although he didn’t have or create any chances in the match, at least he’s playing for his country and international experience is always important.

Today is Javi Navarro’s birthday. Our former captain who is still recovering from that terrible knee injury he suffered a couple years ago. He has led us to 5 cups in 15 months and despite not knowing what his future holds he says he will be involved at Sevilla soon one way or another. Jiménez’ possible replacement maybe? Doubt it, but I think he would be a fantastic addition to the coaching staff and could teach our defenders a thing or two, we really miss his leadership out there every week, it’s been one of the most obvious flaws in our squad this year – a lack of leadership.

No matter what happens don’t expect anything less than an eventful match tomorrow, unlike the reverse fixture earlier this season it is not going to disappoint.