Silva strikes gold as Sevilla stun Real Madrid

Barça lost in part because they opted to rest key players against a lesser opponent. Real could not afford to be quite as confident against a strong Sevilla side. Nacho started at right back, with Dani Carvajal out and Alvaro Odriozola being given a night off, while Isco’s presence in the middle of the park was to be sorely missed. The former Malaga man had his appendix removed on Tuesday.

However, with the newly-crowned best player in the world, Luka Modric starting, alongside the front three of Gareth Bale, Karim Benzema and Marco Asensio, what came to follow was simply stunning. Real were no match for Pablo Machin’s attacking unit.

Machin, on his part, made only one change from the side that hit six past Levante at the weekend. Arana came in for Vidal as they stuck with the five-at-the-back system that has seen them become such a free-scoring side, a streak which continued.

Within 21 minutes, Andre Silva had scored twice and Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan was a sea of noise. Twice the away side were caught on the break, and twice Silva punished them with a simple finish.  For the first, Real Madrid lost the ball in their own half and the counter from 'Los Hispalenses' was quick. Navas picked up the ball and his low cross was tucked home by Silva to send the stadium into raptures.

Four minutes later the volume doubled. It came through Navas again, as he found the ball following a Real corner and ran almost the length of the pitch. His shot was saved by Courtois but the rebound fell to Silva once again and he made no mistake. 2-0 to Sevilla to add to the long list of LaLiga surprises this evening.

Real tried to respond as Bale hit a low effort at the post, but in truth that is what they were limited to. Sevilla were compact at the back and clinical up the other end, and the game was over as a competition before half-time thanks to Wissam Ben Yedder.

'Los Blancos' failed to clear their lines properly, and as the ball was headed back into the box with the defence slow to come out, the French striker was the only one who was alert to the ball to stab past Courtois. When the whistle did come for the break there were few in the ground who could believe what they were seeing.

The second half was little better. Although Real were able to stop the flow of goals at one end, they made little impact at the other. There was a brief flicker of hope when Modric chipped Vaklic in goal, only for VAR to intervene and judge the Croatian midfielder offside.

Bale missed a one-on-one, and things went from bad to worse when Marcelo picked up an injury off the ball with all three substitutes already made. The left-back did not leave the field of play, but he was unable to do more than walk.

As it was, Sevilla completed an historic night - Real Madrid and Barcelona lost during the same round for the first time since January 2015. The final whistle was greeted with a chorus of cheers, and the celebrations will go on long into the night in Nervión.

 

26 September 2018