One of the most intense and evenly matched matches in the history of Spanish football will take place at 04:00 a.m. Beijing time this Sunday. Sevilla will face Atletico Madrid at their devil's home stadium, the Estadio Pisjuan. In a meeting last season in April, Marcos Acu a beat Atletico with a header that made atletico a difficult path to the title.
Diego Simeone has faced Sevilla again this season as defending champions, yet now their opponents are ahead of them in league standings. Sevilla are currently the closest club to the lead real madrid, with their city side Real Betis in third place and Atletico fourth.
The significance of this game has gone far beyond 3 points. Although Sevilla and Atletico are not rivals in the same city, when the schedule is announced before the season, fans on both sides are already looking forward to this wonderful matchup.
However, Simeone did not like to play against Sevilla as it was one of the toughest opponents the Argentine coach had faced in his decade at the helm. During this period, he won only 10 of his 23 meetings with Sevilla, with a 43% win rate being the worst of the 45 teams he has played against since he took charge of Atletico. But Sevilla also didn't get a bargain on Simeone, who also won just four wins and nine draws against Atletico. The showdowns have been more intense than ever in recent years, with both teams winning at their own home last year and having drawn four times in a row before that.
Although the two teams often meet, they rarely score 0-0. Of the 23 matches of the past decade, only two have gone unscored; and more than half of the matches (13) have been scored on both sides.
Rich South American elements
It was a showdown full of South American elements, with a lot of players from South America in both teams. This season' Sevilla first team has seven South American players, namely Lucas Ocampos, Erik Lamela, Papu Gómez, Acuña and Gonzalo Montiel from Argentina, and Fernando Reges and Diego Carlos from Brazil. In addition to their manager Simeone, there are also seven South Americans in the Team: Uruguayans Luis Suárez and José María Giménez, Argentines Rodrigo de Paul and Ngel Correa, Brazilians Matheus Cunha, Felipe and Renan Lodi.
While Lamela will be sidelined with injuries, the other players are ready for the game and they will play a key role in the game. Acuña and Montiel are likely to be Sevilla's starting full-backs, and they play an important role in Sevilla's attacking system. For Atletico, Suarez, Correa and Cunha are all the club's top five scorers this season.
Simeone's past with Seville
For Simeone, it wasn't just a tough race, it was a trip home. Sevilla was the first Spanish club of Simeone's career as a player, playing for Sevilla at the Estadio Pisjuan in 1992/93 and 1993/94.
In the 1992/93 season, Sevilla, which owned Carlos Bilardo and Diego Maradona, signed the Argentine midfielder. After the departure of his two argentine compatriots, he chose to stay in the team and was given the opportunity to play under Spanish legend Luis Aragonés the following year.
It was in the friendly match against Atletico that Simeone scored his best goal at Sevilla, where he got up near the midfield and scored a wonderful hanging shot. He then played well against Atletico in La Liga, helping Sevilla beat Atletico 2-1 at home. But this weekend, he will do everything he can to get points for Atletico.
About La Liga
The Spanish professional football league LaLiga (La Liga) is a global, innovative and socially responsible sports league, as well as a leader in the field of leisure and entertainment. The league organizes the Spanish professional football leagues , La Liga and La Liga , with 20 La Liga clubs and 22 La Liga clubs , affecting more than 2.7 billion people worldwide in the 2019/20 season. Headquartered in Madrid, La Liga has 11 permanent offices and 46 foreign representatives in 55 countries and territories around the world. In 2014, La Liga opened an office in Shanghai, China. In 2020, La Liga, together with Mediapro and Xinying Sports, established a joint venture company SFCM, which continues to make efforts in the field of sponsorship and brand licensing. At the same time, the league is actively involved in social activities through its fund LaLiga Genuine, which is the only professional football league in the world with a league of intellectually handicapped players.