‘Not Bukayo Saka or Ødegaard…, He can drop your market value at any point in time,He is the only player I fear in the Arsenal Squad’: Sevilla star Ivan Rakitic makes Champions League admission ahead of their clash with Arsenal
A new manager bounce, a sterling display against Real Madrid at the weekend and Sevilla’s typical tendency to produce big performances in important games are all factors that await Arsenal as they face the Europa League holders on Tuesday night at the Sanchez Pizjuan.
Former Sevilla youth-team player Lauren (far more famous for becoming an Arsenal Invincible) summed it up in an interview with Mail Sport recently. ‘We saw it last season, they can be in a bad way and then still win the Europa League’.
Quite how last year’s Sevilla pulled that off is still baffling.
Based on their league form they should never have beaten Manchester United and Juventus but under no-nonsense manager Jose Luis Mendilibar and backed by a fervent following turning their concrete bowl stadium into a rocking raucous sea of red they somehow reached the final. And once Sevilla are in a Europa League final – they always win it.
There has been a change of manager since then. Mendilibar has paid for a slow start with a somewhat heartless sacking after the team won just two of their first 11 games.
There were mitigating circumstances with the European Super Cup final against Manchester City taking away focus, and an underwhelming summer transfer market not really setting the team up for a storming start. There were also a couple of late goals turning wins into mere draws.
Sevilla fans have moved from his brief reign (they have changed managers 10 times in the last decade) and are now right behind the slick Uruguayan coach Diego Alonso. He is unlikely to change too much because Sevilla’s best players are fairly easy to pick out and once you’ve picked them out, a sort of 4-2-3-1 occasionally morphing into a 4-3-3 is pretty much how you have to play.
There has definitely been a drop in quality in goal with the brilliant Bono now plying his trade in Saudi Arabia. His replacement Marko Dmitrovic had already lost his place to Orjan Nyland who has impressed in recent weeks but is still not at the level of Morocco’s number one.
Their strongest defence is probably the back four that earned a point against Madrid on Saturday with 37-year-old Sergio Ramos alongside 31-year-old Nemanja Gudelj in the middle and 31-year-old Marcos Acuña and 37-year-old Jesus Navas as the full-backs.
Its weakness is that both Ramos and Gudelj play with the spirit of midfielders eager to sweep forward and both Navas and Acuña are also at their best in the final third. If Arsenal can commit them and then turn them it could spell trouble for four players who, with the exception of Gudelj who was taken off on 77 minutes, all played 90 minutes at the weekend.
The midfield three against Madrid was Ivan Rakitic, Djibril Sow and Boubakary Soumare, the latter two starting to find their feet after arriving in the summer.
The tireless Lucas Ocampos and another new arrival Dodi Lukebakio will flank Youseff En-Nesryi in attack unless Alonso brings in the cultured left-foot of Suso to play on the right with Ocampos switching flanks. Former Tottenham forward Erik Lamela is another possible change. ‘Let’s hope it’s one of those famous Sevilla European nights,’ he said in Monday’s press conference.
Under Mendilibar Sevilla played with a high defensive line and an aggressive press and there is little to suggest Alonso will change that too much – it brought them last year’s Europa League title after all, and he has talked about wanting the team to go on being brave.
His rousing team talk on Saturday was aired live from inside the dressing room. ‘This game is like when you are playing in the street,’ he began, having called Sergio Ramos into the huddle.
‘When you get hit and you bleed, when you are playing in the neighbourhood you can run away or you can go again. If they hit us and we bleed then we will go again. And if they hit us and we bleed again, then once more we go again.’
It was all said with his fist pounding into his open hand and it certainly seem to rouse the players although Sevilla could easily have been behind after just four minutes when Jude Bellingham, from what looked like an onside position, set up Fede Valverde to score. The match officials deemed Bellingham offside and Sevilla lived to fight again.
They will fight on Tuesday night, because the 40,000 plus locals in the stadium will not have it any other way. But last season’s flirtation with relegation and this season’s two wins from 12, point to irrefutable shortcomings that Arsenal at their best are bound to exploit.
