Madrid, December 08: As usual, all the talks in Spanish football in this season have focused on Barcelona and Real Madrid.
Did Barca coach Josep Guardiola do the right thing in swapping Samuel Eto’o for Inter Milan’s Zlatan Ibrahimovic? Could the “Pep Team” recapture the sumptuous slick style of last season?
All the while, Sevilla were carrying on in their usual manner: unobtrusively, quietly, inexpensively, without making a fuss at all.
Their three summer signings-Sergio Sanchez, Didier Zokora and Alvaro Negredo-together cost just a fraction of what Real and Barca spent on new personnel. But they all made a good start in La Liga, particularly former Real striker Negredo, who was soon making hid Spain debut.
Sevilla were soon adopting their usual role, just behind the twin giants, in third place, waiting for the Big Two to slip up.
In October Sevilla beat Real 2-1 with one of their typical high-octane, hard-working displays.
Real and Barca will probably qualify for the knockout stage this week – unlike Atletico Madrid – but it is Sevilla that, of the four Spanish teams, have done best in Europe this autumn.
Two years ago, in their Champions League debut, Sevilla – who won the UEFA Cup in 2006 and 2997 – topped their first round group only to be edged out in the round of 16 by Fenerbahce.
Coach Manolo Jimenez, for his part, said that “we have done well in the group, now our plan is to take each knockout round as it comes, going as far as we possibly can”.
—Agencies