There’s a little miracle happening in Spanish football right now, and no, it’s not just Lionel Messi. The fact that the Argentinian genius is having to produce some of the most outstanding moments of his career simply to keep Barcelona nosing ahead of Sevilla at the top of La Liga is remarkable enough.
Sevilla are putting the “race” back into title race. Hallelujah.
Remember: This is a Sevilla side who appointed a new manager after last season, who no longer benefit from one of the most brilliant directors of football in modern times, who lost three of their best footballers, dumped two keepers and signed a new netminder in the summer, who managed only four from their first 12 points and whose fans, after a particularly brutal defeat at home on Matchday 4, bayed for coach Pablo Machin to be sacked — immediately.
Those facts already make Los Rojiblancos’ performance thus far — in topping their Europa League group, bobbing between top and second in La Liga and boasting the second-best goal difference in Spain’s top division — quite exceptional.
But to understand just how crazy things are, you’d have to take into account that Sevilla fully expected to sign both Mariano (now at Real Madrid) and Portu (stayed at Girona) because Machin didn’t much fancy Wissam Ben Yedder and because the club weren’t doing a whole lot to prevent Pablo Sarabia from signing for Real Sociedad.nfl nike jerseys cheap china
That was summer. This is winter, and boy, how the picture has changed.
Ben Yedder, never shy of carrying an extra kilo or two (which he can ill-afford), didn’t start a game until Matchweek 5 and didn’t play 90 minutes until Matchweek 9. Sarabia, the guy who began his Champions League career at age 18 in Jose Mourinho’s Madrid with Jerzy Dudek in goal and Pedro Leon on the wing, chose to stay for his own reasons rather than remaining at Sevilla because the club persuaded him.nike nfl jerseys wholesale cheap
Staying by default, you could call it. Perhaps he simply didn’t fancy La Real’s chances this season. They are five points off relegation and a whopping 12 points behind second-placed Sevilla.
The icing on the cake is this: Ben Yedder has scored 13 times in 17 starts, while Sarabia is hitting the net at a far faster rate than at any time in his life. That’s 14 in 21 starts. From midfield.
Ben Yedder is the No. 1 assist provider for Sarabia and Sarabia the No. 1 assist provider for Ben Yedder. Between them, they’ve created 13 goals in all competitions this season and scored 27 — a total of 40 with their boot prints on them. It’s a fabulous statistic, especially for two players who were made to feel so unwanted in the summer.
