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At 4:15 a.m. Beijing time on January 4, the 19th round of La Liga ushered in a match, and Sevilla challenged Cádiz away. Sevilla have had a very good record this season, with 11 wins, 5 draws and 2 defeats in the first 18 league games, ranking second, and are the team with the smallest gap with Real Madrid, leaving Atletico and Barca far behind. Sevilla's outstanding record makes it one of the favourites to win the title. Sevilla lost their last league game at the end of November, when they lost to Real Madrid, and since then Sevilla have won a three-game winning streak in the league, beating Villarreal, Atletico Bilbao and Atletico. It wasn't until the last round against Barca that Sevilla's winning streak was ended, with only a draw on Barca. The match was played against relegation zone side Cadiz. Sevilla won both legs last season, and this time Sevilla's goal is to beat their opponents.
In this game, Lopetegui lined up in a 3241 formation. Bunu served as the starting goalkeeper. Akunia, Carlos and Goodley form a 3-back. Fernando single back. Augustinsson, Rakitic, Haldane and Okampos partner in 4 midfielders. Alejandro Gomez and Ivan Romero strike together. Munir and Oscar Rodriguez sat on the bench.
Shortly after the start of the game, Sevilla had a very good chance, haldane wrapped his shot inside the box and deflected slightly off the right upright. After that, the home team Cádiz entered the form, playing better and better, creating shooting opportunities in a short period of time, but did not grasp it. Sevilla had few chances and were difficult to find under a dense defence, with Ocampos' long-range shot blocked. Neither side broke the deadlock at the end of the half. Although Sevilla had 76% of the ball in the first half, they only had four shots on goal, none of which were on target. Cadiz had five more shots on goal in the first half, again without firing on target.
In the second half, Sevilla stepped up their attack. In the 57th minute, Sevilla finally seized the opportunity to score. It was Ocampos who scored the goal, and he received rakitic's clever pass from a small angle to push the goal. The goal gave Lopetegui a sigh of relief. Although they took the lead, Sevilla did not become conservative in their tactical choices, still maintained their offensive level, and then created many opportunities, but failed to score again. The final score was set at 1-0 and Sevilla beat Cadiz. In the post-match whoscored rating, Barca's Rakitic scored a game-high 7.6 points, and although he did not score, he delivered 1 assist and 4 key passes. After winning the match, Sevilla's total points reached 41 points, chasing Real Madrid, only 5 points behind Real Madrid in the case of 1 game less.