Sevilla 2 - Rayo Vallecano
3
Sevilla: Olsen;
Héctor, Germán, Tabaré, Juric; Francisco (Víctor
20'), Prieto; Loren, Otero, Jesuli; Zalayeta (Marco 46'). 4-2-3-1.
Rayo: Keller; Cota, Amaya, Hernández, Alcázar; Helder
(Estibaríz 60'), Poschner (Michel I 68'), Llorens; Luis Cembranos;
Canabal, Bolo (Pablo Sanz 60'). 4-3-1-2.
Team changes: Sevilla: Prieto,
Loren Otero for Marchena, Tsartas, Juan Carlos / Rayo: Keller for Lopetegui.
Goals: 0-1. 02. Canabal.
Low shot after receiving pass from midfield. 1-1. 14. Jesuli. Picked up bad
clearance and his shot took deflection off defender. 1-2. 37. Bolo.
Finished off after Canabal squared across goal and Luis dummied. 2-2. 64.
Juric. Took pass from Jesuli and lobbed Keller. 2-3. 67. Hernández.
Strong header after corner from right by Cembranos.
For the third time this season
Sevilla were forced to play a home match away from their own stadium as the
disciplinary committee once again fined them for crowd troubles. This time the
chosen venue was moved even further away to Extremadura's stadium in
Almendralejo, and Sevilla must be thankful that the season has now finished or
they could have ended up playing in New York's Shea stadium if this had gone on
any longer. Needless to say the turnout for the match was the worst of the
season, with only around one thousand people in all, most of whom were local
supporters (and 15 members of the Almendralejo branch of the Sevilla supporters
club) who were let in free. Sevilla did feel hard done by, especially as no
action was taken after the Betis versus Real Madrid match recently, when a
metal spanner was thrown on to the pitch. Bad refereeing decisions and biased
committee decisions are not however responsible for Sevilla's troubles, and
although they were given no time to plan for the season after being
unexpectedly promoted in the play offs at the end of June, a big name club such
as theirs should have done much better. One consequence of knowing early on
that they are going back down is that they have been able to think about next
season, and they have already named a new manager Caparrós who is
working on the squad. Several players will be leaving, with Hibic and Quevedo
definitely going to Atlético Madrid and Rayo Vallecano respectively,
Tsartas and Jesuli on the shopping lists of big clubs, and Nando and Moya also
probably on their way out. Caretaker manager Juan Carlos Alvarez put together a
makeshift side for this game, with Marchena and Olivera suspended and Juan
Carlos injured, and club captain Prieto came in for what could be his last game
for the club as well. Rayo Vallecano have had their best ever season in the
first division, finishing the league in ninth place, and having turned down the
chance to register for the Intertoto cup they also had nothing whatsoever to
play for. Their boss Juande Ramos was expected to give several players a last
match before leaving the club, but eventually opted to keep the same outfield
players as the last game, with the only change coming in goal where Kasey
Keller took over from Lopetegui. Keller is one who could be on his way after
receiving several offers, with Canabal, Ferrón and Cembranos possibly
returning to their clubs, Real Madrid, Barcelona and Espanyol respectively
after a year on loan, and Dave van den Bergh announcing he will also be
leaving. Another who was making his last appearance was referee Manuel
Díaz Vega, one of Spain's most well known referees, who will be hanging
up his boots after reaching the statutory retirement age. After 25 years at the
top level, Díaz Vega has refereed some 70 international matches, and
could have hoped that the computer would have given him a fitting fixture to
leave the game. Unfortunately the computers' programmers forgot to give their
machine an emotions chip (Data, where were you?), and he was handed this
non-entity of a match in a far off corner of the country. The players at least
did him proud though, scoring a goal for every 200 supporters at the ground
(five, for the non-mathematicians amongst you) and not protesting any of his
decisions. The lack of pressure meant that both teams played flowing football,
and many scoring chances were created throughout the match. Rayo took the lead
three times, with Canabal getting the first within two minutes of the kick off,
and twice Sevilla pulled back level. Prieto cleared off the line from Cembranos
and Keller saved at point blank range from Otero in the first half, and Bolo
hit the crossbar early in the second. Alvarez brought on two youngsters, with
Víctor coming on for the injured Francisco in the first half, and Marco
replacing Zalayeta at the interval. At the end of the match Díaz Vega
was congratulated, and everyone went home to begin their summer holidays a
little early this year. |