Both off Colour, Real Madrid and Sevilla Meet with a Chance to Regain Swagger
It had been a fortress. Until Real Madrid arrived.
For more than a year, from March 2014 to May 2015, the Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan had been unconquerable, a house of misery for its visitors. Inside its walls, 34 consecutive opponents had fought its inhabitants, Sevilla, in a 14-month stretch, and not a single one had left in triumph. Not one.
Among those frustrated in the Andalusian capital had been Barcelona and Atletico Madrid; among those dispatched had been Real Madrid and Valencia. Home to a team with flair and conviction, a home to an environment of intensity, the Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan had become impenetrable.
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But not anymore.
Since Real Madrid did something they couldn't do the previous season and ended Sevilla's fearsome home record with a 3-2 victory in May, the Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan has lost its grip on opponents. On Tuesday, Manchester City visited and left with all three points. In October, Celta Vigo did the same. A month before that, so did Atletico.
In seven outings this season, Sevilla have already lost three times as many home games as they did in the entirety of 2014-15. And overall this season, they've lost eight of 15.
Something's amiss.
Most noticeable in Unai Emery's team at present is the absence of a certain swagger.
Last term, Los Rojiblancos had an obvious power and personality to them, their football based on speed, on urgency, on intensity. On bullishness. Though they weren't truly devastating, they were distinctive and recognisable—if they'd been made to play in balaclavas and different shirts and you hadn't been told, you would have still known it was Sevilla you were watching. But now that quality isn't what it was.
This season, there's a feeling of scaled-down dynamism to this team, some key departures being keenly felt. Up front, the grunt and tenacity of Carlos Bacca is being missed; out wide, the force and direct runs of Aleix Vidal are absent.
Attempting to fill the void, Kevin Gameiro has been solid if unspectacular, and Yevhen Konoplyanka has been bright, but the Sevilla of last season has only appeared in moments. Brief ones. This term, it's not quite the same, as though we've been watching Sevilla Lite.
On Sunday, though, there's a good chance to roll out the full version again.
Indeed, a visit from Real Madrid might just be what Emery's men need right now. As made evident when Barcelona recently travelled to Andalusia (and were beaten), Sevilla tend to relish going punch-for-punch with heavyweights. They're a side whose ferocity is conditioned by their opponents more than most, and a win over Madrid could be the start of something—just as it was, remember, in March 2014.
Intriguingly, the visitors might be thinking the same too.
Like Sevilla, Real Madrid have also looked a little off colour this season in a performance sense even though results have been remained positive. In the early months of Rafa Benitez's tenure, there's been a blunted feeling to Los Blancos, their characteristic power and explosiveness having given way a little to a degree of conservatism.
Complicating matters has been a string of a problematic, high-profile injuries, but even so, Benitez's side has carried a different emphasis that's proving polarising in the Spanish capital. Essentially, the intent is pleasing few, and Tuesday's performance against Paris Saint-Germain saw stylistic doubts gain traction.
But could Sunday bring a change? Could Madrid regain some swagger as well?
It's possible.
Like Madrid might be to Sevilla, Sevilla could be exactly what Madrid need. Last season at the Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan, the 3-2 tussle between these teams was captivating, and this matchup has a history of being as such. In 2013, their aggregate score across a pair of meetings was 11-4. In two of Real's more recent trips to Seville, the scoreboard has read 6-2. Cristiano Ronaldo loves these Andalusians too.
Yet more than just the scorelines, the duels between these two have carried a frenetic quality. They've been end to end. They've hurtled from the first minute to the last. They've been feisty. Whatever it is, these teams do something to one another.
And right now, that might be exactly what both of them need.
