Sevilla Versus Tottenham Hotspur preview

Sevilla Versus Tottenham Hotspur

 

UEFA Cup quarter final, 1st leg

 

5th April 2007

 

Ramon Sanchez-Pizjun Stadium

 

Kick Off: 19.45 (BST)

 

Live on ITV 1

 

Seville, according to local legend, was founded by Hercules. It will take a Herculean effort by the boys from White Hart Lane to get anything from this quarter final, first leg. Sevilla, who sit second in La Liga behind Barcelona, have been a revelation this season. They have carried over the excellent form which saw them win last season’s UEFA Cup competition by beating Middlesbrough in the final.

 

Seville itself is the Andalusian capital and sits on the banks of the Guadalquivir River and is one of the largest historical centres in Europe. It is the largest town in Southern Spain. It is well renowned throughout the world for its oranges which are too bitter to eat straight from the tree but make a delicious marmalade.

 

Sevilla football club was founded in 1905. It is owned by the fans in a similar way that Barcelona football club is also owned by its patrons. The stocks of the club are held by a few major owners and a huge base of fans.

 

Sevilla’s stadium, The Ramon Sanchez-Pizjuan, has a capacity for 45,500, 4100 of which will be Spurs supporters on the night. It has hosted the European Cup final in 1986. The match was played between FC Steaua Bucuresti and Barcelona. The Romanians were the surprise winners on that night.

 

Sevilla finished 2nd in the group stages with seven points, three points behind group winners and conquerors of Newcastle United AZ Alkmaar.

 

Sevilla’s first match in the group stages ended in a 0-0 stalemate against Czech minnows FC Slovan Liberec.

 

Desperate to get their first win under their belts Sevilla then took on Tottenham’s last opponents in this competition, Sporting Club Braga. The Spanish outfit made no mistake beating the Portuguese team 2-0 with goals from Fabiano after 40 minutes and Chevanton 14 minutes from the final whistle.

 

Sevilla then travelled to Switzerland where they took on Grasshoppers. The team from Zurich were no match for Sevilla. Sevilla ran out comfortable winners 4-0. Daniel opened the scoring for the holders on 12 minutes before he added to his own tally with another goal in the 53rd minute. Chevanton made sure of the points in the 62nd minute before Kepa wrapped up the game six minutes from the end.

 

The group decider was between AZ Alkmaar and Sevilla. Which ever team won the match would top the table. Being the home team Sevilla started the stronger and took the lead through a Chevanton penalty after 52 minutes. The Dutch side were back on level terms ten minutes later through an Arveladze goal. The game swung backwards and forwards as both teams looked for the winner but it looked like the game would finish in a draw. With the game into it’s third minute of added time at the end of the match Arveladze rifled in the winner for AZ from the edge of the box. AZ finished top of the group whilst Sevilla settled for second spot, 3 points behind AZ on 7 points.

 

As Tottenham sat out the Round of 32 due to their next opponents Feyenoord being expelled from the competition Sevilla travelled to Romania to face FC Steau Bucaresti. Poulsen gave the holders the lead after 41 minutes and Spurs old boy Freddie Kanoute scored Seville a second valuable away goal from the penalty spot in the 77th minute.

 

The second leg was a predictable affair with the holders practically winning the tie in the first match. They confirmed their progress in the third minute of injury time in the first half when Kerzhakov scored to confirm the Spaniards progress into the next round.

 

Whilst Tottenham Hotspur were dispatching Sporting Club Braga 6-4 on aggregate in the round of 16 Sevilla were facing the Ukrainian team FC Shakhtar Donetsk.

 

The first leg was played in Seville and it was a tight affair. Marti had given the home team the lead after 8 minutes from the penalty spot but the lead only lasted eleven minutes before Hubschman equalised for the Ukrainians. Matuzalem then put Shakhar in front from the penalty spot in the 60th minute. It looked like Donetsk was going to take a lead into the second leg but the referee award a third penalty of the match in the 88th minute, this time to Sevilla. Maresca made no mistake and the first leg finished 2-2.

 

The second leg of the tie was to be a dramatic one. With the first half ending 0-0 the match exploded into life when Matuzalem gave Shakhtar the lead after 49 minutes. Sevilla tied the game on the night 5 minutes later through Maresca but looked to be going out of the competition when Elano regained the lead for Shakhtar with only 7 minutes left of normal time. With time running out Sevilla gained a corner four minutes into injury time at the end of the tie. Sevilla’s goalkeeper Palop came up for the corner in a last ditch attempt to salvage the match and scored with a header. Donetsk looked distraught. Both teams looked exhausted in extra time with the scores level at 4-4 but it was from the boot of Chevanton in the dying seconds of the first period of extra time that was to win the match for Sevilla and see them through to match in quarter finals with Tottenham Hotspur.

 

Spurs go into the tie knowing that they have never won on Spanish soil. They were defeated by Barcelona in 1982 0-1, losing 1-2 on aggregate, and were held to a 0-0 draw against Real Madrid in 1985 when Spurs were holders of the UEFA Cup. That game against Madrid still rankles with some slightly more mature supporters as not only did Mark Falco have a perfectly good goal disallowed on that night in Spain but Real also beat Spurs 0-1 at White Hart Lane in the first leg. Madrid was the first and only club ever to have beaten Tottenham Hotspur at the Lane in any European competition.

 

Both clubs go into the contest in good form. Sevilla have not lost any of their last five matches defeating Tarragon, Celta Vigo and Barcelona. That victory over the La Liga leaders and Champions is Sevilla’s second triumph in this season as they beat them 2-1 earlier to win the Super Cup.

 

Tottenham go into the game having won their last five Premiership matches defeating Everton, Bolton, West Ham, Watford, and Reading. They have done so scoring fourteen goals along the way.

 

Tottenham’s skipper Ledley King will miss the match as will Anthony Gardner. Ricardo Rocha will also be absent as he is cup tied. Pascal Chimbonda is expected to fill in at centre half once again as he did against Sporting Club Braga. Tom Huddlestone picked up an injury which will probably rule him out of both legs of this match. Teemu Tainio is in contention for a place after missing a series of matches through injury, and Hossam Ghaly is also back in contention after missing the Reading match through illness. Mido is also available.

 

Tottenham are a free scoring team at the moment but also have their difficulties in defence. Shakhtar have proven that it is possible to score against the Spanish outfit but Spurs need to be aware that Sevilla have many goal scoring options of their own with many goals coming from all over the pitch. If Tottenham can restrict Sevilla and maybe nick an away goal then I feel that Spurs can win this tie. Sevilla represent the most difficult opposition that Spurs have come up against and it will not be an easy task. AZ has also proven that a win at the Ramon Sanchez-Pizjuan stadium is not impossible. Tottenham need to be at their best in attack and most resilient in defence to overcome Sevilla and progress to a semi final against either Bayer Leverkusen or Osasuna.

 

It can be done.

 

Believe.

 

Enjoy the match.

 

Audere Est Facere.

 

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