THERE were six yellow cards during five minutes of added time at Alaves’ Mendizorroza Stadium on Sunday afternoon, with a game played in driving rain ending with the home team’s captain Manu Garcia heading wide from six yards.
But Sevilla held on for a 1-0 victory, which put the Andalusians top of the LaLiga table with 10 points from their first four games, and left the visitors coach Julen Lopetegui in a pretty good place.
“This doesn't mean anything, the only thing it tells me is that the team are playing well at the moment,” said a typically restrained Lopetegui afterwards. “We have to continue improving before heading to Baku [for Thursday’s Europa League opener against Qarabag]. We are very excited to be getting our European adventure underway.”
Lopetegui knows to look no more than one game ahead. As he was sat atop the La Liga standings at an early stage last season when he was Real Madrid coach. But soon after that, he took his team to Alaves, where they were beaten when a 95th-minute header from home captain Manu Garcia found the net. A few weeks later he was fired by Bernabeu chief Florentino Perez. All that, of course, came just months after being sacked as Spain national manager on the eve of the 2018 World Cup.
FT Alaves 0-1 Sevilla. Lopetegui going to welcome Real Madrid to Sánchez Pizjuán next Sunday with his current team top of La Liga.
— Covering Futbol (@coveringfutbol) September 15, 2019
So Lopetegui has definitely learned to take nothing for granted. But he would not be human if he did not enjoy knowing his team will be La Liga leaders when they welcome Madrid to the Estadio Sanchez Pizjuan next Sunday evening. That date will have been circled ever since he took over at the Andalusians last summer, having previously turned down an offer to take over an [unnamed] Premier League team, and spoken to Bayern Munich about maybe working together in future.
Sevilla sporting director Ramon ‘Monchi’ Rodriguez succeeded in persuading him that the Andalusian capital was the best place to relaunch his career after two such difficult experiences. “Julen is a coach who needs a success,” Monchi said accurately in July.
Not that Lopetegui was coming into an easy job. Sevilla have also had a turbulent time of it lately. Lopetegui is their seventh coach in less than three years, while Monchi himself returned last summer after his own learning experience at Roma.Spain’s foremost wheeler-dealer was busy during the transfer window, with 43 players either coming or going, almost €160 million spent, and just over €100m recouped. The new coach was tasked with gelling together an entirely new team, and things have gone pretty swimmingly so far.
12 summer signings have already featured in Sevilla’s four games so far. This makes even more impressive the coaching job in quickly blending together a cohesive unit which has conceded only one goal. The former goalkeeper’s tactical nous has already impressed local pundits in the Andalusian capital. Lopetegui’s side are fourth highest of the 20 sides in the stats for both possession and passing accuracy, while also looking to press and compete high up the pitch.
After last week-end matches, Joan #Jordán takes the lead in @CIES_Football performance rankings for last month's big-5 league fixtures ahead of Riccardo #Orsolini & Axel #Witsel; full table ➡️https://t.co/c0Xxg6FCDE pic.twitter.com/RYVo5hJN3d
— CIES Football Obs (@CIES_Football) September 17, 2019
Successes so far have included ex-Eibar midfielder Joan Jordan – who has two winning goals in his first four games and is currently the best player in Europe this season according to statisticians CIES. On loan from Madrid left-back, Sergio Reguilon has been another revelation, while veterans Jesus Navas and Ever Banega have also quickly taken to Lopetegui’s ideas.
The 53-year-old has also looked more relaxed than during his time at the pressure-cooker Bernabeu. With Madrid’s results not exactly picking up under either interim replacement Santi Solari or returning Zinedine Zidane, even Perez has admitted that he may have acted too hastily while hurting from a 1-5 Clasico defeat at Barcelona. Los Blancos often have problems at the Sanchez Pizjuan – where they have lost in each of the last four seasons, including a 0-3 defeat during Lopetegui’s spell in charge.
Madrid have started the new season shakily, with Zidane’s current side still showing all their old problems. Although they still sit third in the early table after last Saturday’s rollercoaster 3-2 victory against Levante at the Bernabeu.
“In your career, there are moments of more joy, and less joy, more frustration, and less,” Lopetegui told El Pais last summer. “But everything that happened so far is positive. And the best is still to come.”
