La Liga Lowdown, Jornada 28: Hope at the top as Barcelona slip up at Sevilla

15 Mar, 2011 Luke Colbourne Europe, Latest, Spain

It’s time for Real Madrid fans to get slightly excited again, after Sevilla put in a great performance to hold Barcelona to a 1-1 draw at the Sánchez Pizjuán this weekend. The gap at the top is now down to five points, with the top two to play each other in next month’s decisive clásico at the Santiago Bernabéu.

Since Gregorio Manzano took over at Sevilla their form can only be described as inconsistent. At its worst, they slipped to five straight league defeats, but with the players at Manzano’s disposal, that was never going to last. The turnaround began just after the winter break with consecutive victories over Osasuna and Real Sociedad. However, there were still clear problems, but luckily the transfer window gave Manzano a chance to change things around.

For most of the season, Sevilla’s biggest problem has been in midfield. The Zokora-Romaric partnership whilst solid, badly lacked creativity. So much so that striker Fredi Kanouté found himself playing a new, deeper role in the team – a role he excelled in naturally. His intelligence, creativity and technical ability made him perfect for it. There was one downfall though – Kanouté’s age. At 33 he is unable to play every game.

Desperate for a spark, Manzano and his scouts scoured Europe for a younger alternative to the ageing Malian. The man they plumped for in the end was 22-year-old Ivan Rakitic, then of Bundesliga side Schalke. The Croatian had already decided he wasn’t going to sign a new contract with the German outfit, and was therefore available for a fraction of his true value. Sevilla had found an exciting, talented, young player, and a seemingly perfect answer to their creativity issues. Eventually Rakitic signed for Sevilla for a knock-down price of just €1.5m.

To complete a successful January transfer window, Sevilla also brought in Chilean lunatic Gary Medel to add some strength in the defensive area of midfield. Manzano immediately moved away from his 4-4-2, often switching between both 4-2-3-1 and 4-3-1-2 in order to accommodate attacking midfielder Rakitic. The coach also kept his base of Medel and/or Didier Zokora, but they now had a player to link midfield with attack. Rakitic slotted in seamlessly, playing in the hole behind either Álvaro Negredo or Luís Fabiano.

Rakitic has been impressive so far, and he once again lined up for Sevilla against Barcelona this weekend. With the recent departure of Luís Fabiano, who left for São Paulo in his homeland of Brazil, Álvaro Negredo was the man picked to lead the line against the league leaders. Fellow January signing Medel also took his place in the starting eleven alongside Zokora in midfield, tasked with the almost impossible – neutralising Xavi and Iniesta.

It was anyone’s guess as to which Sevilla would show up – the defensively weak, lacklustre one or the fast, intense attacking Sevilla of old. Unfortunately for Pep Guardiola and Barça, it was the latter. The Sánchez Pizjuán isn’t an easy place to go in general, but when Sevilla are on form, it can be a nightmare to visit.

But it was Barça who managed to open the scoring through Leo Messi, but his seemingly acceptable goal was ruled out by the referee. Midway through the half, though, they were 1-0 up for real. The majestic Andrés Iniesta picked out a delightful pass for Dani Alves, who squared for Bojan to bundle the ball into the back of the net. It was the Brazilian’s 13^th assist of the season, second only to Messi with 16. Quite incredible for a man who calls himself a full-back.

Sevilla fought back though. That Sevilla had turned up. The attacking, explosive, intense one we all remember from the Juande Ramos era. It doesn’t happen often, but they were creating chances against Guardiola’s men.

In the second-half Manzano made a decisive change, sending on the man everyone loves to watch – Fredi Kanouté. It was also a brave, attacking change, as the Mailian came on in place of a midfielder, meaning Sevilla now had two strikers on the pitch. But Kanouté is much more than just a striker. He brought real composure to their play, and he was in control in the middle – as sublime and magnificent to watch as ever. And of course he instigated the equaliser.

His brilliant through ball found Álvaro Negredo, who after being pushed wide kept his composure to chip the ball back onto the head of probably the smallest player on the pitch, Jesús Navas. The Spanish international winger directed his header past Víctor Valdés in the Barça goal, and the Sánchez Pizjuán erupted.

A fantastic game of football ended all square. For Barcelona, it was two points dropped, but Sevilla played well and deserved to come away with a point in the end. That point kept the Andalusians just three points off a European place, whilst at the same time giving hope to those over in Madrid.

Real Madrid had already dispatched of Hércules a day before Barcelona played, with the most interesting thing about the game being Karim Bezema’s continual rise from joke figure to “wait, he’s pretty good actually”. Playing alongside Emanuel Adebayor he scored twice, taking his league goal tally up to nine for the season. The latest Marca poll even revealed that more than 90% of the Madrid fans wanted the Frenchman to line up against his former club Lyon in their upcoming Champions League tie.

The two results meant that the title race became just a little bit more open, but with a five point advantage, Barcelona are still in prime position to win the league. Can Real Madrid win the league? Probably not, but Sevilla sure made things a bit more interesting at the top. Next month’s clásico just became a whole lot more important.

Lower down the Lowdown

After a disastrous couple of weeks for Manuel Pellegrini, his Málaga side bounced back this weekend with a fantastic victory away at Real Sociedad. Pellegrini had Duda back from injury and he put the Andalusians ahead midway through the first-half. Top goalscorer Salomón Rondón doubled their lead shortly after half-time, picking up his 10^th league goal of the season. La Real were much better in the second-half, but it was too little too late and they couldn’t find a way past an inspired Willy Caballero in the Málaga goal.
Espanyol won 2-0 at the Cornellà-El Prat, the kind of result which was staple of their success in the first part of the season. Iván Alonso opened the scoring for the pericos, marking his first goal of the season. Mauricio Pochettino finally turned to the Uruguayan in Pablo Osvaldo’s absence, and the ex-Murcia striker delivered. Joan Verdú then wrapped up the victory with a goal late on. Despite their dramatic dip in form, Espanyol still remain in contention for Europe, as they sit a point ahead of Athletic Bilbao in 5^th.
Henok Goitom rescued a valuable point for Almería against Atlético to keep their survival hopes alive at the bottom. Kun Agüero twice put Atlético ahead, but José Luis Oltra’s men never gave up, and once again showed the kind of fighting spirit that may well keep them up. All three teams in the relegation zone – Almería, Hércules and Málaga – are all tied on 26 points. It couldn’t be any tighter.
‘Man of the Week’ goes to Sporting Gijón’s Diego Castro for not only earning his team a point at Villarreal, but for doing it in style. Villarreal were leading 1-0 all the way up until the 92^nd minute when Nacho Novo chucked himself over in the box, earning Sporting a very questionable penalty. Castro then placed the ball on the spot, ran towards it, and nonchalantly dinked it over a falling, helpless Diego López. Brilliant.
The shock result of the round came at La Romareda, as Real Zaragoza demolished Valencia 4-0. “We were a disaster in all aspects of our game,” said coach Unai Emery. Even worse, the result came after Valencia crashed out of the Champions League at the hands of Schalke in midweek.

Results

Almería 2-2 Atlético, Real Madrid 2-0 Hércules, Zaragoza 4-0 Valencia, Espanyol 2-0 Deportivo, Real Sociedad 0-2 Málaga, Levante 1-1 Mallorca, Villarreal 1-1 Sporting, Osasuna 3-1 Racing, Sevilla 1-1 Barcelona, Getafe 2-2 Athletic.

Goal of the Week

Juanlu (Levante 1-1 Mallorca)