At midweek we at Monchi’s Men seemed to have stumbled upon the secret to Sevilla’s success: predict failure here on the blog, and explain why. So naturally we’re going to undo that good work today by looking at the potential positives if Sevilla wins Monday at Granada. And I know I just wrote on Wednesday I didn’t think Sevilla had much of a chance at Europe, but…let’s look at Sevilla’s chances for Europe.
In the “Would you like to watch some teams not named Barcelona or Real Madrid, China?” early game this morning, Atlético apparently got tired of success or were reminded they didn’t earn that Patético nickname for nothing, and lost by conceding in injury time to Real Zaragoza. Since they were three points and four places ahead of Sevilla, this signifies an important opportunity for Los Nervionses. Also in the opportunity category: today (5) Malaga plays (6) Espanyol and (4) Levante plays (8) Osasuna. So with Atleti’s loss, that means at least three of the teams 5-9 will drop points today. It’s hard to imagine a better chance to move up the table or at least cut the distance to Europe than this week.
Of course this is predicated upon the notion that Sevilla can win more than one game per month, a notion that Trochowski seemed to endorse when he said “This year if we win two games, we’ll play bad on the third”. See? We have one more win before a spirit crushing loss! So let’s go do this! A por ellos!
In squad list news, Perotti is again out with injuries, replaced by Tom de Mul, who has apparently been on the team all this time? Also, Spahic is back, which is a welcome addition. So let’s go get these Alhambra-having Andalusian neighbors!!!!!!
Malaga beat Espanyol and look like they’re on a trajectory to take 4th if not 3rd…
Osasuna helped us out beating Levante.
CL seems a virtual impossibility, but a win today could put us within one point of seventh… Which would mean we’d have to root for Barcelona over Bilbao in order for that spot to become an EL spot (unless Bilbao were in 5 or 6, which, for the moment, they are not).
Lets go sporting, take some points off of Bilbao!
Did I mention that I really don’t like rooting against Bilbao? I kind of like them.
Anyway, most important is still that we focus on ourselves. If we get good results from here on out, we still have a very good shot at European competition.
weirdest thing I saw in Spain back in October was finding a Bilbao fan bar in Tarifa.
Oh, Tarifa! What a wonderful little place. I’ve spent some happy days there.
sporting pull off the tie with a goal in the 90th!
we definitely have a good opportunity to make up some points in the standings.
now we can root for villareal to beat rayo.
ps. anyone have a take on what the hell has gone wrong for villareal this season?
GOOOOOOOLLLLLL NEGREDOOOOO!!!! 39′ what a great touch to himself and pass from Reyes. The dirty work happened before that with Medel winning the ball back and dumping a couple challengers.
HT. A very open and exciting affair so far. Granada has had their chances but I think ours have been a bit more clear. Manu messed up a couple really good ones as is his custom, but Negredo came through again for his ninth goal. That’s one for the forwards!
GOOOLL MANUUUUU!!!! He misses two, he makes one! 55′
Lucky, cause we weren’t doing much so far this half but giving up good chances to Granada.
just seen the final 20 minutes.
some nice passing for us though lack of finishing. rakitic blazes high after gorgeous set of pieces between him, negredo and trocho.
then, just before coming off, negredo hits the corner of the goal posts with what would’ve been an amazing little chip.
kanoute on now. dying moments… close it out…
annoying that medel picks up an uneeded yellow. that’s what we expect at this point i guess.
Manu gooooooool at the last minute. That’s +2 goal differential after two straight 0-3 wins away from home. Lookin’ good just about everywhere on the field.
in final seconds manu pads his stats with another easy goal off a great navas effort and saved shot. helps our goal differential, which might prove important with all the teams so close together.
i really wanna see the replay of the negredo goal.
anyway, great to have another win. tied for 8th now with getafe and patetico… european spots getting closer…