Tactically, Sevilla lost 4-1 to Real Madrid on Sunday. But what interests me is Wednesday. The club has filed an official complaint with La Liga, and I spread the article over my team-sheet folder, in the clubhouse bar, next to a mug of coffee.
Three incidents. First: according to Sevilla, an elbow from Arda Güler on “Peque” Fernandez that should have left Real down to ten. Second: a possible foul by Cucurella on “Peque” Fernandez, with a possible penalty, and no proper replay according to the club. Third: a possible foul by Konaté on Robbie Ure at the start of the move for the second goal, scored by Mbappé, “without sufficient television analysis”.
The grievance isn’t only about what happened on the pitch. Sevilla says the elbow was shown in wide shots, without zoom, and that the three sequences are “deliberately” missing from the official highlights, though Movistar Plus + and DAZN showed footage afterwards.
My dressing room doesn’t need VAR, it has the club delegate (the volunteer official who hands in the team sheet). And the delegate is my wide shot. He stands behind the barrier on pitch 2, the sloping one. When it happens at the top of the slope, he sees it. When it happens at the bottom, he sees the top of a head. No magnification tool. He has reading glasses, he keeps them for the folder.
The official highlights, at our place, are him too, on Mondays, at the clubhouse bar. He systematically forgets our chances. Not deliberately, mind you. He’d gone to pick up the kids in the 70th minute.
And did you file a complaint, Freddy?
With whom? The chairman? He’d vote for it, maybe.
Sevilla is asking for an “in-depth investigation” and measures “to guarantee impartial, consistent and fair treatment of all clubs taking part in the competition”. Me, I keep the zoom request. I’ve written it under Sunday’s team sheet, next to “buy bibs”.
It’s true, we checked: 20 Minutes.
