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After the shock of last week in Girona, Real Madrid goes to Levante in search of the three essential points.
Everyone is a product of his environment, even the football teams. Just ask Seville. The Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan has something special: a communion between the stands and the pitch, the players and the fans, which really makes the difference and distinguishes the stadium. Something that may be the difference Saturday afternoon – and not for the first time.
There is a line in the anthem of the club, a hymn that is new but still seems to be there, which states: "That's why I came here to see you". But they do not just come for see their team here; they seem to come be their team.
"The Pizjuan never surrenders, it's always special to play here," said long-time winger Jose Antonio Reyes. The club is talking about his home – opened in 1958, hosting a semi-final World Cup (1982) and a final of the European Cup (1986), the stadium where Spain does not compete. has never lost – like a "magical" place. Of course, many fans would like it, but that does not necessarily mean they are wrong. In fact, it looks like they're right. there is something intangible that translates into something quite tangible. Call it luck if you want, but it does not really look like that. Statistics say it.
Barcelona is starting its super week at Pizjuan on Saturday and there is a reason why it's a visit to be feared, a reason they call it a great week. This is not just because they go twice to Santiago Bernabeu (once in the league and once in Copa del Rey); it is also because they start by going to Seville.
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It's here that Real Madrid was beaten 3-0 earlier this season, where Sevilla has not lost in nine league games. It's the place where Barcelona lost the last time they visited the Cup and shot the last time they went to the league; Lionel Messi brings them from death 2-0 to two minutes from the end. The city where Madrid has not won in the league for four seasons and Barcelona has won only one of its last four visits. The last time Madrid won, thanks to a hat trick from Cristiano Ronaldo, he ended a home defeat of 34 home games.
Place is the word; it's not just about the team and the club, although a lot has been accomplished in this century and so many good players have played it. All these players are linked to it. "When you go there, you are trapped," said former player and current badistant coach Antonio Alvarez, "when you hear everyone singing the acapella anthem, that's something mystical. "
Sevilla has been fighting for some time, having won only one of his last eight league games before his weekend match with Barcelona.
It's something, agree. It's really as if the Pizjuan had some power over the players on both sides and that's been around for some time. Seville spent the whole of 2017 without losing it; they played in the 34 matches mentioned above between 2014-15 and this season, they lost only once at home. Until now, the standard may be better because each team tends to be better at home. But Seville takes this to the extreme. Since 2000, Real Madrid has been beaten 12 times in all competitions. Nowhere else has he defeated them so often.
But leave the Pizjuan and things change. Sevilla, the team that has not lost at home for nine years, has not won in nine years, going back to September. Their three away wins ended with three of their first four games away. They did not even beat Villanovense, third in the standings, at the Copa del Rey. Last season, they lost three at home, 11 a way. The previous year, they only lost one home time – 2 to 1 against Barcelona – and seven on the outside. The previous year, when they beat Barcelona 2-1 at Pizjuan, they did not win a single league game. Not one. And the year before, they only lost once at home.
It's as if Seville are two different teams. Although they beat the best at home, it could not be otherwise on the road. Take this statistic: In the last seven seasons of the league, Sevilla has collected four of the possible 102 points on Spain's largest historic pitch. Yes, four of 102! The breakdown: 0 points out of 21 possible to San Mames, 2 to 21 to Mestalla, 2 to 18 to Wanda Metropolitano / Vicente Calderon, 0 to 21 to Bernabeu and 0 to 21 to Camp Nou.
This final figure includes their last visit to Camp Nou in October, when Seville was beaten 4-2 by Barcelona. They went there with a chance to go upstairs, with people asking if they could be suitors. They left defeated, but it will take another nine weeks before they are again beaten in the league and this issue does not disappear completely.
He has now. Sevilla beat Lazio in the Europa League, their competition. They reached the quarter-finals of the Copa del Rey, where they beat Barcelona 2-0 at home, but then lost 6-1 to the outside – a trend is emerging here. But their form has dropped. In the league, they have won only one of their last eight games. Whistles, whispers and discontent surfaced as frustration began to surface.
Pablo Machin's training was better apprehended by the opponents and the ball that started the most moves – the diagonal going from the deepest to one of the advanced backs – was more and more closed. Injuries played their role, fatigue too. They are starting to look like they are: a team that played 45 games in a season that began in mid-July, when the World Cup banners had barely been removed.
The Roman Sanchez Pizjuan Stadium is a real fortress for Sevilla as the club has lost only six times in 47 games in the last two seasons.
Optimism has disappeared. The times have changed. From: could they win the league? To: Could they miss the Champions League? The answer is: yes, they could. This weekend, the threat is real. When they faced Barcelona for the last time, Seville was lucky to rank among the best; by the end of this weekend, they could go down to seventh place.
They are already 17 slips back into the pack – and the La Liga has never been so tight. By the end of the last third of the season, the league has never been so uncertain. In the last two months, everything seems to be coming, with almost everyone positioning themselves for a race that could see them finish almost anywhere. The only real gaps are at the very top – Barcelona has seven points ahead – and all the way down, where Huesca is six points behind the security. But even that does not seem certain. And everything else is even less clear.
Athletic Bilbao sums it up well: they are seven points of relegation … and seven points of a place in the Champions League.
Ten teams, or perhaps more, could realistically fall, seven of which are currently within six points of the drop zone. Villarreal and Rayo Vallecano, currently in the last three, have only one point to escape. Sitting just above them, very close today, Celta have lost seven of their last eight games and just lost star striker Iago Aspas for more than a month.
Ten or more teams could also claim a European place – and many of them are identical 10. Espanyol, 14th, has only seven points on a UEFA spot, five points if seventh place is enough. And out of those 10, five – Valencia, Real Sociedad, Betis, Alaves and Getafe – could have a chance to win the last place in the Champions League, as they are all within five points.
Alaves and Getafe are at a point. You have heard: Alaves and Getafe are at one point – one point – a place in the Champions League.
In other words, a point behind Seville. It's not just those two who are getting closer: Real Sociedad is three points behind, Betis four, Valencia five. All this explains why, even if this weekend is important for Barcelona, it could be a more important weekend for Seville.
Having not won on Saturday, as they have done in seven of the last eight weeks, Sevilla will almost certainly be out of the Champions League places for the first time in five months. This match, one of the most important in Spain, which has produced 27 goals in the last six meetings, could not have happened at a worse time or against a worse opponent. But then it could not have happened to a better place.
Source: espn.co.uk
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