As Sevilla Find Themselves, Real Madrid Left Wondering Who They Are
Ciro Immobile held his hands on his head, a look of anguish across his face. A tiny Pepe touch had just denied him, and though he didn't vocalise it, the thought running through his mind might have been something along the lines of: "When? When?"
Little did he know, just 10 minutes later, he would have his answer. Ten minutes later would be when.
After Yevhen Konoplyanka's corner found its way through to him not long after the half-hour mark, the Italian smashed his shot from an acute angle past Kiko Casilla before storming toward the corner flag, ripping his shirt over the same head he'd previously held in his hands, his team-mates thumping his bare chest.
Immobile had finally scored for the club, and the picture was one of ferocity. Of Sevilla.
Twenty-five minutes later, Konoplyanka stood just beyond the opposite goal, his arms raised as he faced a delirious crowd. On his own, he'd bulldozed the Real Madrid defence, a slalom of carnage having setup Ever Banega for a second. Soon after, Fernando Llorente was standing with arms stretched in front of the same fans, his header having added a third.
Three new faces had been instrumental. Three goals had been the result. In the process, a heavyweight had been toppled through force, intensity.
Sevilla had found themselves.
"The need of winning three points united us," said manager Unai Emery afterward, and that need he spoke of had been very real.
When the day began, Sevilla sat in the table's bottom half, fresh from defeats to Villarreal in the league and Manchester City in Europe. The latter had been their third loss at home already this season—three times the number suffered in their entire 2014-15 campaign.
Until now, something had been missing at the Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan. Last season, there'd been personality and power to Sevilla, their game based on direct running and an unshakable sense of adventure. In a relentless fashion, they fought, they scrapped, they gambled and they overwhelmed, their opponents regularly leaving the Andalusian capital sick with the sight of them.
But that hadn't been the case this season. Not until Sunday.
Now, though, Sevilla are Sevilla again, and Real Madrid have that sickness.
"We need to impose our playing style during the match," manager Rafa Benitez said in the lead-up to the game. For half an hour on Sunday evening, they did. But that was it.
Just as they'd done against Celta Vigo at Balaidos in October, Madrid fell in a heap after 30 minutes of dominance, a feeling of deja vu falling over Benitez's men like there was a glitch in the matrix. But then there was a difference this time: They didn't get away with it.
They were punished for doing so.
After Sergio Ramos was forced off the pitch with injury in the 32nd minute, a wave of anxiety seemed to grip Real Madrid from which they never recovered. In goal, Casilla was unsure, carrying the vulnerability of a similar name who preceded him; in front of him, Pepe looked underdone; on the left, Nacho couldn't replicate Marcelo's thrust; on the right, Danilo had his legs tied in knots again, this time by outstanding Konoplyanka—the third man to do so in a matter of weeks after Nolito and Maxwell.
"We lacked the ability to manage the situation," said Benitez in defeat. "Our mistakes allowed them to get stronger." And that was true, but it wasn't the mistakes that were most striking. Instead, it was that suddenly Real Madrid look to have a somewhat confused identity, a clarity lacking for their purpose.
Earlier in the season, even after some uncharacteristically conservative and measured displays against Atletico Madrid and Paris Saint-Germain, there was evidence of progress within this team. Away from home against fellow big-hitters, Madrid embodied a certain maturity that was missing last term, finally playing with thought for consequence against outfits that had the ability to hurt them, winning points in a manner they previously hadn't.
At the time, even though it wasn't scintillating, it felt like a period of foundation setting under Benitez. Something upon which to build. A place to kick on from. But instead, the opposite has occurred: Madrid have gone backward.
Against Celta Vigo, they went into their shell after dominating and were fortunate to emerge unscathed, even after the hosts went down to 10 men. Against PSG at home, they couldn't establish any sense of control, leaving with a win Marca described as a "miracle at the Bernabeu." And here against Sevilla, the conviction in their intent fell away the moment pressure was applied, their collective approach becoming increasingly muddled, the team as a whole unsure whether attack or defence was the answer.
In the end, they did neither, caught in a murky middle ground.
"Tonight's game against Sevilla was an X-ray which showed us what Real Madrid have on the inside—little, or less than we previously thought," wrote AS in its match report.
It added that Sevilla's "beating heart remains intact," and it evidently is. The Andalusians finally found themselves; they rediscovered who they are.
Real Madrid now need to do the same.
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