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THere was a moment late on Sunday night when the camera zoomed in on Luuk de Jong, which seemed to say something about trust and the team, and what they are building together in Seville. He had scored at the Camp Nou, as he had done against Real Madrid, Atlético de Madrid, Real Betis, Inter and Manchester United, but having opened the scoring after eight minutes the ball was back in play just 41 seconds when Philippe Coutinho tied. Now, six minutes from the end of a grueling evening, the former Newcastle striker sat in the stands gesturing for his teammates to remain calm in the final moments of the 1-1 draw against Barcelona.
Below him, on the touchline, assistant manager Pablo Sanz was doing the same. And above both, Julen Lopetegui, with headphones in his ears, the phone in hand, hoped that this time it would not escape him. Everybody the players had to do was dare. Think, have faith, stick to the plan, like it’s easy. “Maybe we were afraid of losing, so we didn’t handle the last five minutes well,” the Sevilla coach later admitted, but then the other 85 had been a different matter and it was not only brief but also natural. In addition, in the end, Sevilla was still standing. And that is not usually the case at Camp Nou. This was only his third point out of the last 54 available here.
A year ago almost a day, Sevilla arrived at the Camp Nou, beat Barcelona and lost 4-0. “We didn’t deserve that,” Lopetegui said then and they wouldn’t have deserved to lose now, but he knew that was no guarantee. You have to go back to 2002 for his last victory there, when no one had heard of the Europa League, much less won six of them, Pablo Alfaro, Vinny Samways did too and a teenager named Daniel Alves da Silva could not make the team . In 17 visits Sevilla had not won; they had only drawn twice. This was Barcelona, after all; The team, said Sevilla president Pepe Castro, before the game, “with a player from another planet.” An alien with a nasty habit of hitting you when you think you’ve gotten away with hitting yourself.
Sevilla were under pressure, exposed for the first time. The legs were tired, Ivan Rakitic had left, applauded by his former teammate Ousmane Dembélé. Joan Jordán, Suso and De Jong had joined him, as had Lucas Ocampos. From the stands they saw Sevilla take their first yellow card in the 87th minute. In the 90th minute, Bono saved Francisco Trincão. In 91, there was a cry of a penalty for Messi, stumbled by Diego Carlos. And in 93, Messi finished. And then in ’95, when Messi picked up the ball once again, the final whistle sounded. Sevilla had escaped with a draw.
Barcelona too, and that was the point.
After a 4-0 win over Villarreal and a 3-0 win at Celta de Vigo, it felt like something was building in Barcelona: they were faster, more organized, more hard-working, just better. This would be the first real opportunity to measure how much better they were. “The Test” called it one of the first pages. At the end of a game in which its outstanding player was the central substitute Ronald Araújo, doubts remained: about the narrow form, how they had gotten tired, if the press can be sustained, the circulation of the ball, the role of Antoine. Griezmann and Messi too. Neither of which should surprise. After all, as Philippe Coutinho insisted: “this has just begun”.
Sevilla, on the contrary, has consolidated. “Seville stopped Barcelona”, “Seville stopped Barcelona”, “Seville stopped Barcelona” read the headlines, when they probably should have been the other way around, giving reasons for Ronald Koeman to be happy and Lopetegui happier. As El Mundo said: “knocking down this Sevilla is a titanic task for which this Barcelona, despite its improvement, is not yet ready.” In El País, Ramon Besa pointed out: “In the end, what must be praised is that Barcelona did not lose to this Sevilla.”
The night he prepared to decide if Barcelona were really good showed that Sevilla certainly are. Ask Barcelona. Later, Coutinho immediately highlighted how hard Sevilla had put him to play on the inside. Koeman called them a great team, a great team: “a strong, physical side with great players who pressured us very well.” And the Barcelona spokesman, Guillermo Amor, recited the Lousy: Sevilla was very tough, very good and very complete.
“We produced a great performance; maybe we even deserved to win, ”said Sevilla president Castro. “We saw a great Sevilla,” Bono said. Maybe they would say that, but when Jules Koundé insisted “I’m a little disappointed”, he was telling the truth. He was also right. In particular, he was magnificent, the perfect portrait of not only the eye of sports director Monchi for a player, but also his ability to build an ecosystem in which he thrives. In front of him, Fernando was impenetrable. Jordan was everywhere. And while Jesús Navas was to blame for the Barça goal, as Castro insisted: “It gives us so much that you forgive him everything.” At 34, he helped silence 17-year-old Ansu Fati. In the whole field they impressed: Suso, Ocampos, Jordan, De Jong.
Sevilla had more shots than Barcelona (13 to 12) and, for long periods, also more possession. They had played as equals, showing that “their knees do not shake against a great rival” in the words of Diario De Sevilla. Relentless, they pushed so high that at times Barcelona could barely get out of the six-yard area, much less the penalty area. Described by Sport as “vibrant, daring, choral, with the tactical precision of a surgeon”, if they were missing something, Jordan said, “it was a little bit of clarity up the field.” That’s not easy at that many RPMs, and there have been times when they haven’t been able to finish the games, but that’s getting better too. Monday they added another striker to the squad, Oussami Idrissi.
There is a collective certainty, a force in them that is remarkable. A growing belief expressed in De Jong’s gesture: we have this. It’s been building: this was pretty much a new team last summer; a year later, it is an established year, the identity clear. Although Sergio Reguilón and Éver Banega left in the summer, and although both are heavy losses, they were quickly replaced. “It’s like Rakitic never left,” says Jordan. Depth has been added to the squad as well and there is variety – this is a team you can control or counter. Nobody in Spain transmits so much security at the moment.
In last week’s Champions League draw, Sevilla faced Krasnodar, returning Julen Lopetegui to the city where he was sent home from the Spanish team, the toughest days of his career, preparing him for the that seemed an inevitably short and bitter period. with Real Madrid at the Bernabéu. His appointment in Seville last summer was not universally popular. And even in March, many still weren’t sure – there were even some fans who whistled. But in his absence, hearts have grown more loving, his redemption complete.
Lopetegui has come a long way. When he returned home to Asteasu in August, they were waiting for him. There was applause a band playing the hymn of Seville, a prepared party, a hand-painted sign that says “beti zutaz harro”: always proud of you in Basque. His father, the best stone lifter in the Basque Country, hugged his son who had just won the Europa League, his first trophy as a coach; who had won the derby, twice; and he returned Sevilla to the Champions League as well.
Together, Sevilla have built a team with the ambition to go to the Camp Nou and achieve as good a result as anyone in almost twenty years, but I feel it was not enough. And not for one performance, but for many. They have only lost once in twenty-six games since February, and that was in overtime against Bayern Munich, after Youssef En-Nesyri missed a wonderful chance to win it. Nobody wants to say it, but there is a feeling that something good is being built. Last night the president avoided talking about the title, but insisted that Sevilla have to be ready if the rest fails.
“Today we did a great job, we competed very well and we came to win. We dominate them at times, surpassing them, and we are left with a bittersweet flavor; I feel like we could have come away with a win, ”Jordan said. “It is a cliché, but it is true: we will go game by game and there is hope for next season. We have a spectacular squad. You look at our bench and it’s brutal. It’s beautiful to see us play ”.
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