Sevilla vs. Real Madrid: Team News, Predicted Lineups, Live Stream, TV Info
When they visited last season, the title was slipping away from them. When they visited the season prior, it became a hammer blow to their push. The season before that, it was the beginning of the end for Jose Mourinho.
For Real Madrid, recent trips to Sevilla and the Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan have proved strangely decisive, the journeys happening to arrive at defining moments in intriguing seasons. And on Sunday, the circumstances will be similar again.
Though the outcome of the 2015-16 league title certainly won't be determined by this encounter, for Real Madrid it arrives at a critical juncture. On the back of some laboured displays and just days after being outplayed by Paris Saint-Germain—an outing from which Los Blancos were extremely fortunate to emerge unscathed—there's suddenly a sense of urgency for Madrid to find fluency. To find rhythm.
TOP NEWS
Madrid Fines Players $590K 😲
'Mbappé Out' Petition Gaining Steam 😳
Star-Studded World Cup Ad 🤩
To find themselves.
"We need to impose our playing style during the match," said Rafa Benitez on Saturday, and that's true. The problem is that, right now, no one really knows what Real's playing style is.
To date this season, Benitez's team has traversed the spectrum from powerful to ponderous to perplexing, and while results have remained positive, there's growing unrest in the Spanish capital over the nature of the performances, a stylistic debate becoming increasingly fierce. And with El Clasico looming after the international break, Real Madrid need to start looking more like, well, Real Madrid.
Positively for Benitez and Co., the injury crisis that has proved disruptive this season might be finally subsiding.
On Sunday, Gareth Bale and James Rodriguez will travel to Andalusia as part of Madrid's 20-man squad, significantly bolstering an outfit that was oddly denied supremacy when PSG visited the Bernabeu on Tuesday.
"If he's made it into the squad that means there's a chance he'll play," said Benitez of Bale, "but we still have to see for how long." As for Rodriguez, the manager's reaction to the Colombian's return was concise: "I'm delighted."
So he should be. But Unai Emery, well—not so much.
Since his Sevilla side pulled their customary trick of raising their level for a heavyweight and overcoming Barcelona in early October, Emery's side has missed the expected springboard and will be wary of a strengthening Madrid.
Straight after that rousing victory, Sevilla fell flat against Eibar, were wasteful against Manchester City, barely fired a shot against Villarreal and have only overcome an awful Getafe. City then completed a European double on Tuesday, making it one win from five for Los Rojiblancos since the toppling of Barcelona—not exactly what they will have had in mind.
And yet strangely, a visit from Madrid might be exactly what Sevilla need right now. As previously noted, they're a side whose ferocity is conditioned by their opponents more than most, and the men from the Bernabeu have often brought the best out of Sevilla.
The most intriguing part: The vice versa is also true.
Match Details
Date: Sunday, November 8
Time: 7:30 p.m. GMT / 2:30 p.m. EDT / 8:30 p.m. local
Venue: Estadio Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan; Seville, Spain
TV Info: Sky Sports (UK), beIN Sports (U.S.)
Live Stream: Sky Go (UK), beIN Sports CONNECT (U.S.)
Form Lines
| L: 1-3 vs. Manchester City | W: 1-0 vs. Paris Saint-Germain |
| L: 1-2 vs. Villarreal | W: 3-1 vs. Las Palmas |
| W: 5-0 vs. Getafe | W: 3-1 vs. Celta Vigo |
| L: 1-2 vs. Manchester City | D: 0-0 vs. Paris Saint-Germain |
| D: 1-1 vs. Eibar | W: 3-0 vs. Levante |
| W: 2-1 vs. Barcelona | D: 1-1 vs. Atletico Madrid |
Team News
As mentioned above, Bale and Rodriguez are available again for Real Madrid, giving Benitez far more options than he's had at his disposal in recent weeks.
However, one suspects the Welshman and the Colombian will have caution shown toward them, with both more likely to come off the bench in the second half if necessary.
As a result, Isco and Jese could retain their places on either side of Cristiano Ronaldo (Karim Benzema remains sidelined), but a reshuffle will be needed in defence where Marcelo and Keylor Navas will both be missing, opening the door for Nacho and Kiko Casilla.
For Sevilla, striker Kevin Gameiro could be missing again because of a hamstring injury, meaning Emery will likely turn to Fernando Llorente to lead the attack. Flanking the former Athletic Bilbao forward will be the impressive Yevhen Konoplyanka and Vitolo, while Coke should continue at right-back despite Mariano's strong performance against Getafe.
Predicted Lineups
In the Spotlight
One of the most surprising aspects of Real Madrid's performance against PSG in mid-week was the way the visitors controlled the midfield battle with such ease.
With Maxwell causing problems for Danilo out wide, Raphael Varane was regularly pulled away from Sergio Ramos to cover, splitting the central defensive pairing and forcing Casemiro to retreat deeper than Benitez would have liked to tighten the shape.
Consequently, Luka Modric and Toni Kroos found themselves on the losing end of a two-on-three battle with Thiago Motta, Blaise Matuidi and Adrien Rabiot, seeing Modric in particular become strangely peripheral—a sight we're unaccustomed to. And it's one we likely won't see on Sunday.
Though the physical pairing of Grzegorz Krychowiak and Vicente Iborra will look to disrupt Modric's rhythm, Sevilla as a unit aren't a side that controls tempo. Instead, the Andalusians' game is very direct in the Spanish sense of the word, their style defined by intensity, power. Force.
And that plays into Modric's hands.
In the middle of frenetic activity around him, the Croatian has the tools to be a rare source of serenity inside the Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan. Defined by poise and polish, Modric with his vision and range of passing is perfectly suited to subtly splitting open a duel that has a history of being chaotic.
Odds (via Odds Shark)
Sevilla: 13-5
Draw: 3-1
Real Madrid: 10-11
