Raphael Varane vs. Kevin Gameiro Will Be Key Battle in Real Madrid vs. Sevilla

It's the Spanish clash that rarely feels Spanish. 

When Real Madrid and Sevilla do battle, something happens to these two—they do something to one another. Frenetic, physical, feisty, breathless, end-to-end, encounters between these rivals from the capital and Andalusia take on a dynamic you don't typically associate with La Liga. 

When they last met in November, Sevilla triumphed 3-2 after a roaring comeback in a game that typified what this duel has become. The time before that, it was Madrid who emerged victorious from a ferocious scrap that finished with the reverse scoreline. 

That was 2015. Two years earlier in 2013, there was the utterly bonkers 7-3 at the Santiago Bernabeu and also a 4-1; two years before that in 2011, there were a pair of meetings at the Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan that finished 6-2.

Strap yourself in, this one will be wild.

Or will it? 

On Sunday, Sevilla will arrive at the Bernabeu carrying one of Europe's most bizarre records. At home, they've won 17 straight in all competitions and 20 of the last 21, an astonishing run that includes victories over Madrid and Barcelona; away, however, seven months into the season, they're still winless in the league. 

As such, Unai Emery's men are growing increasingly fierce at home but cautious away, and that could continue here. 

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In recent trips to the Camp Nou and Vicente Calderon to take on Barcelona and Atletico Madrid, respectively, Sevilla have selected physical, robust XIs and opted to sit extremely deep, conceding possession and territory while trying to make the game choppy. Against Atletico, it worked; against Barcelona, it almost did. Given Madrid's fearsome record at home, we can expect something similar again from the Andalusians. 

Indeed, the key for Sevilla is to avoid getting in a shootout; for teams who visit the Bernabeu, doing so rarely works out well. Sunday could also be an opportunity for Emery and Co. to further close the gap on Villarreal in the race for fourth place, with Marcelino's men taking on Barcelona earlier in the day. A point, then, could be a good outcome. 

Thus, Sevilla's approach is likely to be based on counter-attacking.

Enter Kevin Gameiro.

In 2015-16, Gameiro is enjoying his finest season with the Andalusian club. After a somewhat slow start to the campaign, the striker has burst into life in the new year, racing to 17 goals in all competitions and handsomely filling the void left by Carlos Bacca who departed to AC Milan last summer. 

In style, the Frenchman is emblematic of his team as a whole: direct, powerful and intense, all swagger and personality. Similar in a way to Jamie Vardy at Leicester City, or even Luis Suarez at Barcelona, Gameiro will hunt down everything; he'll chase lost causes; he'll go and go and go; outworking and overrunning defenders is his thing; bolting past them is, too. 

For Madrid, then, Raphael Varane will be extremely important. 

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With both Sergio Ramos and Pepe suspended for the visit of Sevilla, Varane will stand alongside Nacho in a defensive pairing that's far from Zinedine Zidane's strongest. In Nacho, Madrid have a defender of valuable versatility, but he can be outpowered by Gameiro's type. 

That will put pressure on Varane to quell the threat posed by his fellow countryman. Helpful for Madrid's bright young centre-back will be his extreme pace and recovery abilities, but the disjointed nature of his team is likely to heighten the demands. 

All season, Madrid have been structurally poor. With vast spaces between the attack and midfield, and the midfield and defence, the team's three lines have often taken on the look of separate units, working totally independent of one another. 

Consistently when watching Los Blancos, you see opposing forwards running at them in space, with two-on-two and two-on-three situations alarmingly regular and cover from midfield almost non-existent. 

These are the situations Gameiro will look to exploit on Sunday.

Varane will have his hands full.