Real Madrid is preparing to welcome Sevilla at the Santiago Bernabéu on Wednesday. In the last encounter in the La Liga last season, Real Madrid was defeated by Sevilla 2-1 at Ramón Sánchez Pizjuán. The goals were scored by Carlos Bacca and Cristiano Ronaldo. Real Madrid could see themselves 7 points clear ahead of the title holder Atletico Madrid on the Primera Division Table.
Out of their six previous meetings, Real Madrid won four times and lost twice to Sevilla. Two of the important matches were the UEFA Super Cup Final when Real Madrid beat Sevilla 2-0 and the last season’s memorable match when Real Madrid beat Sevilla 7-3 at Santiago Bernabéu.. Although on Saturday Real Madrid will face Atletico Madrid in a derby match at Vicente Calderon (as seen on: complete soccer schedule website), Sevilla’s current position on the table will force Ancelotti not to rest his stars for the derby game. “The match against Sevilla will pose risks if we aren’t at our best. The most important game is tomorrow’s, not the derby.” Ancelotti told the Spanish media. “We can extend our lead over our rivals and I’ll field the best team possible. La Liga will be decided at the end, like it was last season. It’s important to have a lead at this point, but it won’t decide anything.”
Sevilla’s boss, Unai Emery, has told Spanish media in Tuesday press conference, “We play every game to win, though naturally the difficulties posed by our rival set out our possibilities, but we have nothing in our minds other than winning. Tomorrow we’re enthused by the thought of reaching 45 points. We know the difficulties implied by playing Real Madrid in their stadium, but our only mentality is one of overcoming them.” Therefore, people can expect the World Cup’s top goal scorer James Rodriguez and Marcelo on the field as Real Madrid’s expected starting eleven on Wednesday. However, they are a booking away from a suspension. Ancelotti’s decision not to rest his star players would risk at their unavailability for the derby game if they receive another yellow card in the game against Sevilla.
Emery is well aware of the strength points of Real Madrid. He said “Clearly at the Bernabéu, the attacking capability of Real Madrid is very high, therefore our defensive surety has to be important, but you can’t win games if you don’t also attack, which is something we have to take into account.” He also mentioned their last encounter at UEFA Super Cup Final, “In the Super Cup they were better. Now we have another opportunity to take them on and to demonstrate the level we’re at. Credibility and consistency in La Liga is important for my team and tomorrow, we have a great opportunity in a wonderful setting, where we all want to be and one we want to seize.” Asked about his comments on Cristiano Ronaldo’s unavailability, Emery said, “If I said I’d prefer Cristiano Ronaldo to be playing, I’d be lying.”
“They have other players though who can play their combination game more. The individual characteristics of all their players are at a great level. Bale? They’re all very good. What’s more at their stadium, they’re all very strong.” he added. Not only Ronaldo, but also his Portuguese fellows Fabio Coentrao, Pepe, and Croatian playmaker Luka Modric cannot play for Real Madrid due to injury.
At Sevilla’s side, one particular player gets special attention from Ancelotti. He is the club’s leading scorer and assist leader, Carlos Bacca, the very same player who scored twice against Real Madrid in their last La Liga encounter last season. He has scored 12 goals and has contributed to other 4 goals scored by his teammates this season. However, Ancelotti refused to single out Bacca; by stating that there are plenty of other threats offered by Liverpool and Barcelona loanees Iago Aspas, Gerard Deulofeu, and Denis Suarez.
Ancelotti refused to reveal whether Asier Illarramendi or Sami Khedira will be playing against Sevilla on Wednesday, but did say that Silva will sit on the team bench for the first time. “Lucas Silva will be in the squad tomorrow, on the bench,” he said. “If we need him he will play.” he concluded. This soccer schedule match has a lot to offer the viewers and it will start tonight. Both teams’ impressive performance this season guarantees an exciting and interesting match and it will be very important for both teams to firmly establish each team’s position on the league table. Do not miss it.