Atletico Madrid Maintain Slender Title Hopes in La Liga with Sevilla Stalemate

Sevilla and Atletico Madrid fought out a scoreless draw in La Liga on Sunday evening, negating one another in what was an important clash in both the title fight and the race for Champions League places. 

Following a run of three defeats in their last four league games and four in their last six, it was imperative for Unai Emery's men to arrest their slide and triumph against the defending Spanish champions to keep their top-four hopes alive after Valencia's win earlier in the day. 

Yet, despite dominating general play and creating significantly more scoring chances, Los Rojiblancos couldn't find a decisive goal and now sit seven points adrift of the top four. 

For Atletico, Sunday's stalemate at the Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan could be looked upon in two ways: either as damaging points lost in their title defence, or as a vital point gained at a difficult venue and critical in the race for third place and guaranteed entry into next season's Champions League. 

Indeed, Atleti manager Diego Simeone will likely leave Andalusia satisfied to an extent, given his side's difficulties this season when returning to La Liga following European duties.

Prior to Sunday's meeting with Sevilla, Los Colchoneros had taken just seven points from a possible 18 in matches immediately following Champions League outings. After a 1-0 loss to Bayer Leverkusen on Wednesday, that would have undoubtedly been in Simeone's mind. 

As such, against a strong opponent that hasn't lost at home in La Liga in more than a year, Atletico's conservative approach at the Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan was understandable. 

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In a defensive 4-4-1-1 shape, Antoine Griezmann led the line for the visitors, with Arda Turan operating just off the Frenchman and doing his best to maintain possession for Atletico.

It meant Simeone's midfield featured the robust combination of Gabi, Tiago, Mario Suarez and Raul Garcia, essentially in anticipation of the physical battle the match would become.

Naturally, such a shape, missing Mario Mandzukic, was designed to sit deep and counter-attack.  

That approach allowed the hosts to dictate the game on Sunday, with Carlos Bacca causing Miranda headaches in the opening half and Vicente Iborra pushing forward from his central midfield position to strike the post on the half-hour mark. 

Yet that was as bright as it got for either side in a physical but largely uneventful opening 45 minutes in southern Spain. 

After the break, Simeone's introduction of Fernando Torres for Turan immediately gave Atletico more of a counter-attacking threat, with the former Liverpool star enjoying a number of runs in behind the home side's back four. 

But like Sevilla, Atletico couldn't convert any of their half chances. 

It left the game's final stages as a non-compromising battle between Sevilla's robust attack and Atleti's notoriously tight defence. 

Predictably, the outcome was a hard-fought stalemate—one that leaves Sevilla well off the pace for fourth place and Atletico Madrid still clinging to faint title hopes and just ahead of Valencia. 

Sevilla
Atletico Madrid
Player	Rating
Sergio Rico	7.6
Coke	6.6
Timothee Kolodziejczak	6.7
Alejandro Arribas	6.7
Fernando Navarro	6.8
Grzegorz Krychowiak	6.8
Vicente Iborra	7.7
Aleix Vidal	7.2
Ever Banega	7.6
Vitolo	6.1
Carlos Bacca	7.0
Reyes (sub 70')	6.2
Stephane Mbia (sub 70')	6.2
Kevin Gameiro (sub 79')	6.0
Player	Rating
Miguel Angel Moya	7.9
Juanfran	6.3
Diego Godin	7.7
Miranda	7.5
Jesus Gamez	7.3
Mario Suarez	8.9
Tiago	7.6
Gabi	6.4
Arda Turan	6.5
Raul Garcia	7.2
Antoine Griezmann	6.2
Fernando Torres (sub 59')	7.0
Koke (sub 64')	6.2
Mario Mandzukic (sub 75')	6.2

Interestingly, Atletico meet Valencia at the Vicente Calderon next weekend—a game that after Sunday's results is now a straight tussle for the control of third place.

However, the Spanish champions will be without the services of Griezmann and Miranda, who both picked up their fifth yellow cards of the season on Sunday. 

For Sevilla, nearly every clash now becomes a must-win game, starting with next weekend's trip to Deportivo La Coruna.