The April Fair is over and this cyclothymic Seville continues to play like the angels, but now they don’t win. Girona stops him, more efficient than bright (0-2).
It barely arrives twice and Juanpe puts it in the first time (he does it in the 23rd minute) and Taty Castellanos, the man who scored four goals against Madrid, the second time (55).
Victory is a blessing for Michel’s team, who is beginning to believe it: why the hell can’t they aspire to a European place?
The mana is a few steps higher, five points away, and you have to find an incentive to stay connected to the competition, now that the specter of relegation has faded.
Sevilla compromises this time, it will be that the April Fair has ended, although they experience similar feelings to those of Girona. A little while ago, barely a month, it was agitated in the lower zone, where Valencia and Espanyol are still wavering, two other greats in very low hours, we will see if they come out of the well.
Sevilla surrenders this time but, watching him play, the chronicler says to himself: “It seems incredible: how was Sevilla where they were? How did he suffer and squirm in the relegation places just a month ago, disconcerted by Lopetegui’s fragility and, later, by Sampaoli’s tactical arrogance?
Playing four keys, José Luis Mendilibar has transformed the team.
¡Bingo!
In a flash, that Sevilla that was begging for points has knocked down Manchester United in the Europa League (they are already in the semifinals, where they will face Juventus) and they have won almost everything in April.
Mendilibar says that the key is practicality and consistency. The practical sense fits with the values ​​of Eibar, a group that, in its day, had been elevated by Mendilibar himself: it implies verticality and management of resources, a bit Basque-style, a bit English-style.
Namely, Yusef En-Nesyri’s header.
Michel, the Girona coach, is clear about what’s going on, so he places two central defenders around En-Nesyri, one for marking, the other for blocking, and that’s where the gigantic Sevilla player shuts down, this time sparing at times .
Just in case, Mendilibar has alternatives. Actually, he has them at arm’s length. He has so many that he allows himself to transform the eleven from one day to the next, over and over again. Sometimes he signs nine changes. Others, seven. Against Girona, four.
Be careful, on this occasion, perhaps Mendilibar has gone too far. Girona also believes a superior role. He comes from overwhelming Madrid, on that night that his people will never forget, that of Taty Castellanos’ poker, and he has a couple of magnificent elements: not only Taty, but also Rodrigo Riquelme.
Riquelme, a wonderful loan from Atlético, looks like Dybala, and in the lane he is a sharp knife. He cuts back, he is intuitive, he gets along with Oriol Romeu, he accelerates and, every time he receives, Sevilla starts to tremble.
Riquelme’s accelerations keep Girona connected.
It is not easy to achieve that in Seville, because the locals play and arrive, and Ocampos is on one side and Bryan Gil on the other.
Another thing is his success in the shot, scarce this Monday, and also the success of the Girona goalkeeper, Gazzaniga, who takes them all out and saves the furniture for the Girona, boxed in and suffocated in the final stretch, also anxious to see if his European dream is just a dream or it can become a reality.