La Liga Round 23

Sevilla FC 2-0 SD Eibar

Lineups:

Sevilla FC: Rico; Mercado, Rami, Lenglet, Escudero; Nasri, N’Zonzi, Vázquez, Sarabia; Jovetić, Ben Yedder. (4-4-2)

SD Eibar: Yoel; Capa, Mauro, Lejeune, Arbilla; Escalante, Rico; León, Adrián, Peña; Enrich. (4-2-3-1)

Before their comeback to the Uefa Champions League against Leicester City FC in this upcoming Wednesday, Sevilla FC encountered with SD Eibar to play in one of the most attractive games of this weekend. Why? Because both teams are two of the few Spanish teams with a defined style of play

Jorge Sampaoli’s Sevilla is one of the best teams at varying their game system while maintaining their intentions and philosophy. They got into the pitch with a 4-4-2 scheme that transformed, at some moments of the game, into a 3-4-2-1 scheme. A very offensive game plan not only because of the tactics but more importantly, because of the players on it. Samir Nasri, Franco Vázquez and Stevan Jovetić were in the starting lineup. Three offensive midfielders capable of control every aspect of the game perfectly: the ball, the time and the spaces.

Even tough Sevilla had all those creative players on the pitch, Eibar stopped them from controlling the game. The first 10 minutes were very intense because of the high pressure applied by Eibar. The visitors controlled the spaces comfortably by advancing their lines and pressuring Sevilla’s backline. Sevilla could not have clarity on the build-ups.

Thirty minutes that Sevilla looked completely inferior because of the marking discipline by Sergi Enrich, Pedro León, Adrián, Fran Rico and Gonzalo Escalante. A high collective defensive effort on every line. Rico and Escalante were the most crucial ones because they cut in half Sevilla’s lineup. The midfield was completely disconnected from the forwards and the defenders. Mainly because both players blocked the vision of Sevilla’s nucleus: Steven N’Zonzi.

Unfortunately for Eibar, this way to defend needs a lot of compromise to work on transition once the rival gets the ball to create the counter-attack. Sevilla have the enough talents to tweak their system to respond against the adversity created by the other team. In the 30th minute, Clement Lenglet sent a long pass to Jovetić. Jovetić slightly touched it with his head and ended up passing it to Wissam Ben Yedder. Ben Yedder received it on the left side of the box and passed it back to Jovetić with back-heel pass. Jovetić dribbled the ball while being under pressure and crossed it to Pablo Sarabia. Sarabia was wide open in the middle of the box and scored the goal through a volley.

Sarabia’s goal was like a sedative punch for Eibar. The visitors lost the control of the game for the rest of the first half. It took a while before Eibar started to recover their level from the first 30 minutes of the game. They kept isolating N’Zonzi from the rest of midfielders and forwards. N’Zonzi had to abandon his positions at moments and go forward to help in the creation of chances. Sevilla were forced to keep trying with long passes to the forwards. Players who were well marked by Eibar defenders. Ander Capa and Anaitz Arbilla did a great job at stopping Sevilla wide midfielders.

One key movement for Sevilla was the substitution of Ben Yedder for Vitolo in the 59th minute. Vitolo played on the wide right of the pitch and gave more options to Sevilla to have more speed through the exteriors. That left enough spaces in the middle for N’Zonzi, Jovetić and Vázquez to find their passing game on transition.

It was up until the 91st minute that Sevilla ended up closing the game. On a counter-attack, N’Zonzi sent a beautiful well measured through-long pass to Jovetić who was wide open on the right wing because the Eibar’s full-back abandon his marking position. Jovetić drove the ball deep enough through the right side of the box to assist Vitolo for the second and final goal of the game.