La Liga: Sevilla vs. Real Madrid

Posted on | November 1, 2007 | 1 Comment

This match is another showdown between two of the league’s title contenders. Real Madrid come into this game on a high after smashing five past Valencia away from home and will be looking to do the same at Sevilla’s Sanchez Pizjuan stadium. Meanwhile Sevilla, who have been making some amends to their dismal form of late, lost away to Athletico Madrid on Wednesday night in a thrilling game which ended four three to the hosts. It could have gone either way but Sevilla came out losing and will certainly be looking for three important points here.

Real Madrid have been criticized by the Spanish press for playing bad football, but all that changed against Valencia. There they played an almost perfect match, with Guti in truly world class form setting up goals for on fire Van Nistelroy and Raul. The latter must now be a serious contender for a place in the national team, as he has regained his lost form and is slotting away goals just like he used to. Whether national team coach Luis Aragonés will pay any attention is another matter, though. Madrid are now firm leaders of La Liga and will want to put on a good show here to crush the Nay-Sayers. The problem is that in the Sanchez Pizjuan stadium things don’t always go as planned. They haven’t won in this ground since 2003 and have only managed one 2-2 draw in six matches.

Sevilla are still having problems in defense –as receiving four goals from Athletico Madrid demonstrated- and will have to be on their toes against the league’s top scorers in this match. New coach Manolo Jimenez will want to prove that the three nil home win against Valencia wasn’t a fluke and was more because of his team playing well than Valencia playing awfully. He was unlucky not to get a draw in midweek but was let down by his defenders and this is where he has to work on. His strike force remains intact, with both Kanoute and Luis Fabiano finding the net almost every week. Whether these two will be enough however is uncertain, so I am going for a draw here. If Sevilla play out of their skins they are definitely able to go against this Real Madrid side as equals, but judging by Madrid’s form of late this will not be an easy task. There will be two determining factors in this game, I think. The first is Iker Casillas, Real Madrid’s goalkeeper and probably the best in the world at the moment. The other factor isn’t a Sevilla player but the fans. They have a way of getting behind their team like no other and will certainly give their team an edge.

Prediction: Draw (2-2)

Related posts:

1. La Liga: Real Madrid vs. Sevilla
2. La Liga: Real Madrid vs. Sevilla
3. La Liga: Athletico Madrid vs. Sevilla
4. La Liga: Athletic Bilbao vs. Real Madrid
5. La Liga: Racing de Santander Vs. Real Madrid

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