The 2024/2025 La Liga season proved to be a challenging one for Sevilla, as they finished 17th in the league with 40 points, just one point above the relegation zone.
Last season, García Pimienta coached the team for 34 matches, winning only 11, drawing 9, and losing 14 in all competitions.
Joaquín Caparrós then replaced him for seven matches, during which he won only one, drew two, and lost four.
Los Rojiblancos‘ board has decided to appoint Argentine coach Matías Almeyda as the new coach for the upcoming season.
Almeyda has previously coached several clubs, including River Plate, Banfield, Deportivo Guadalajara, and SJ Earthquakes, but his most notable period came with AEK Athens.
The coach successfully led the Greek team to league and cup titles in the 2022/2023 season, after four seasons without winning the league and six seasons without winning the cup.
In the following tactical analysis, I will discuss some of his tactics and ideas from last season with AEK Athens, highlighting the most prominent ideas and their suitability for Sevilla players next season.
AEK Athens Build Up Under Matías Almeyda Tactics
We will start with the build-up phase, during which Matías Almeyda likes his team to take a direct approach, especially against teams with a high-intensity pressing attitude, such as Olympiacos.
Let’s take examples from their match in the first leg of the semi-final in the Kypello Elladas Cup last season.
AEK Athens played with a 4-3-3 formation in this match, while Olympiacos employed a 4-4-2 formation.
The team aims to find the full-backs first in the first third, then look for the penetrating players behind the opposing full-backs.
In the following image, we can see Ehsan Hajsafi, at left-back, sending a long ball to Roberto Pereyra, who played as a left central midfielder.
Pereyra got some help from his teammate, Orbelín Pineda, who played as a left winger and pulled the opponent’s right-back.
On the right side, it’s the same idea but with a slightly different execution.
The pivot, Sebastian Szymański, gets near the right-back, Lazaros Rota, to be away from the right striker who follows him.
Then, when he receives the ball, he sends a direct ball towards the space behind the opponent’s left-back to the right winger, Niclas Eliasson.
Eliasson receives the long pass from Szymański on the right wing.
Let’s move to another idea within the build-up phase for the AEK Athens team.
This time, the chosen opponent is Panathinaikos, from the Stoiximan Super League Play-off on the second matchday of the 2024/2025 season.
Matías Almeyda’s ideas, as seen in this match, included numerous rotations among the players during that game phase; these rotations disrupted the opposing players and created space and time for the team’s players in possession of the ball.
Against Panathinaikos, a team who press high with 4-3-3, Almeyda decided to play with 4-2-3-1, giving instructions to the double pivots to move into the full-back spaces.
The movement from the pivot player to the side allows the full-back to go forward, creating a 2v1 situation against the opponent’s full-back with the help of his teammate, who plays as a winger.
Another benefit of that pivot’s movement is that the centre backs can stretch the field more freely to receive and drive the ball.
In the following images, Petros Mantalos from AEK Athens moves to the right side to receive the ball and pull the opponent team to his side.
The team then switches the play to the targeted side, which is left.
The ball will be played to the right defender, Domagoj Vida, who will then pass it to the left defender, Harold Ingason.
Therefore, we can recognise the importance of the movement from Jens Jönsson, who moved to the right to pull his marker, who plays as a right centre midfielder.
This gave the left defender a large space to go forward with the ball.
Vida passes the ball to Ingason, who drives it forward towards the free space.
In the following image, we can see one of the ideas for developing the build-up from the left side.
While the left defender drives the ball, the left-back, Mijat Gacinovic, moves diagonally inside to attract the opposing winger, freeing up the passing lane for the winger.
Pineda stands beside the opponent’s right-back to pin him.
After the winger Koita received the ball and couldn’t continue the attack from his side, he started to switch the play to the right side.
In the following image, we can see the role of the right winger, Erik Lamela, No. 9 (spotlighted), who moves inside when the ball is located on the left side and also drops deeper to pull the opponent’s left-back.
This drop from the right winger, Lamela, helps the right back, Rota, to push forward and asks for a long ball in a large space.
The second idea from Matías Almeyda on the left side concerns the movement of the left defensive midfielder, Jönsson, to the left side, which is the same reason that happened with the right defensive midfielder, Mantalos, on the right side.
However, there is a slight difference here.
Panathinaikos coach Rui Vitória instructs his right central midfielder to mark Jönsson wherever he moves, so Almeyda exploited that to let the left defender, Ingason, who stretches the field, be away from the opponent’s attacker, drive the ball, and have a vertical passing lane.
Another trick from Almeyda’s rotation philosophy, Pineda drops in front of the centre backs to pull the opponent’s defensive midfielder, who moves with him, leaving a large space in the middle.
That space is also occupied by the striker, Frantzdy Pierrot No.14, who drops to pull the centre-back, so the situation on the left side will be 2v1 again.
AEK Athens Progression & Final Third Under Matías Almeyda
In these phases, we can say that Matías Almeyda likes to put the most number of players in the final third to enhance scoring opportunities, by pushing the full-backs forward and midfielders penetrating the box.
From the same match mentioned above against Panathinaikos, we can see the number of players in the opponent’s half; there are seven players, stretching the field by the right-back and the left winger.
In the following image, the team takes a direct approach, exploiting the space between the full-back and the centre-back.
Pineda, the player behind the striker, penetrates that space to receive a direct ball from the defender, Vida.
In the final third, Matías Almeyda gives his right winger Lamela freedom, as he can get near his teammates to establish numerical superiority on the other side.
The coach likes to make back passes to let the opponent’s defensive line step forward, which leaves spaces behind them that the players exploit.
If the team couldn’t develop the attack through the left side or send crosses to the box and decided to switch the attack, right-winger Lamela would move to the right side to create a 2v2 situation alongside right-back Rota.
In the following image, Lamela drops into the space behind the right-back, Rota.
When Rota receives the ball, Lamela gets near him.
Vida passes the ball to the right-back, Rota, while Lamela drops right to make a 2v2 situation.
Therefore, Lamela sends an early cross to the box players; Matías Almeyda favours the early crosses.
AEK Athens High Press Under Matías Almeyda
In the high press phase, Matías Almeyda uses man-oriented pressing with the striker pressing the centre-backs.
As we will see from the same Olympiacos and Panathinaikos matches, the team utilises the opponents’ back passes and horizontal passes to intensify the pressure.
In the Olympiacos match, the team defended with a 4-3-3, reflecting the opponent’s 4-2-3-1 formation.
It was 1v1 pressing through the field, except for the striker responsible for the two centre-backs.
In the following image, we will see the pressing scheme for AEK Athens.
The striker, Pierrot, presses the left centre-back, with a covering shadow on the right centre-back, while the two central midfielders, Lamela and Pereyra, mark the double pivots.
The two wingers, Eliasson and Pineda, mark the full-backs, and the right-back Rota marks the left winger and pushes forward with him.
The single pivot Szymanski marks the attacking midfielder from the opponent, whether they move right or left or penetrate behind the right or left-back.
The pressing scheme for the Panathinaikos match is the same as that for the Olympiacos match, as shown in the following image.
The only thing I want to add is the role of the centre-backs in the high press; the centre-back marks the attacker, whether he stays upfront or drops to the middle.
The defender Vida follows the opponent’s attacker (spotlighted), who drops more, with more protection from the other three defenders at the back (3v2 situation).
AEK Athens Mid & Low Block Under Matías Almeyda
In these two phases, I will examine the defending scheme for AEK Athens in deeper areas.
Beginning with the Olympiacos match, we see AEK Athens defend in a 4-3-3 formation against the opponent’s 4-2-3-1 formation, utilising a man-oriented system.
The striker Pierrot presses the left centre-back with cover shadowing the other centre-back, while the two central midfielders, Lamela and Pereyra, mark the double pivots.
The two wingers, Eliasson and Pineda, mark the full-back by getting back with them, as seen in the following image of Eliasson.
We can also see the right-back, Rota, marking the winger and moving with him inside.
The single pivot Szymanski marks the opponent’s attacking midfielder wherever he moves.
The two centre backs, Vida and Moukoudi, get close to each other to narrow the space for the attacker.
If the team’s attacker doesn’t press the defender who carries the ball, the right central midfielder jumps to press him, leaving his initial player, who was marking him, in his cover shadow, waiting for another player to mark him.
As shown in the following image, Lamela presses the left centre-back, while Pineda follows the left defensive midfielder from the opposing team, No. 14.
Thus, Pereyra goes inside with the other defensive midfielder, No.32.
Moving on to the Panathinaikos match, the defensive scheme remains the same as the one used in the match against Olympiacos above.
Additionally, the right central midfielder, Mantalos, leaves his initial marker and presses the left centre-back, who is the ball carrier, as shown in the following image.
AEK Athens Box Defending Under Matías Almeyda
In the box defending, AEK Athens defends similarly, as shown in the following image from the Panathinaikos match: the second defender, Moukoudi, protects the near post area, while the third defender, Vida, marks the attacker tightly.
The right-back, Rota, marks the left winger, while the right central midfielder, Mantalos, gets back with the opponent’s left central midfielder.
The same thing happens if the right central midfielder or the attacking midfielder from the opposing team enters the box; the other pivot will retreat with them.
Matías Almeyda Squad At Sevilla 2025/2026
Until now, Sevilla haven’t made many signings; the team has just signed the left winger, Alfon González, from Celta de Vigo, and the left-back, Gabriel Suazo, from Toulouse.
Starting with the goalkeeper position, there are Álvaro Fernández and Ørjan Nyland.
For the centre-back position, the team has Loïc Badé, Kike Salas, Marcão and Tanguy Nianzou.
I think those players, especially the first three, are ready to take a starting position on the team, as Nianzou is currently out due to injury.
According to their defensive and attacking abilities on the ball, particularly their ability to drive the ball forward and make vertical passes, they are well-suited for the role.
The full-back’s position is also ready for the coach, as there are many good choices.
There are Juanlu Sánchez and José Ángel Carmona, starting with the right-back position.
I think Matías Almeyda will choose Juanlu as a key player due to his attacking philosophy.
He is a more attacking full-back with a tendency to run forward.
For the left-back position, the team has Adrià Pedrosa and Gabriel Suazo.
I also think Pedrosa will enter the starting XI due to his attacking abilities.
Let’s move to the midfield.
Almeyda prefers players who can play different roles, varying between 4-3-3 and 4-2-3-1.
The team’s choices are Lucien Agoumé, Nemanja Gudelj, and Djibril Sow; they are the main players who will probably take the three positions in midfield.
Sow will be a key player for Matías Almeyda.
He can play in different positions with various roles, including defensive midfielder, central midfielder, attacking midfielder, and occasionally as an inverted winger.
With more protection from Agoumé and Gudelj, I think Sow will move to advanced areas.
The main key player for the right winger position will be Dodi Lukébakio, who is somewhat similar in profile to Lamela at AEK Athens.
The winger likes to play more inside and take the ball, then dribble or shoot at the goal from any place.
He is also a good player at sending crosses.
The other winger choices are Alfon González, Rubén Vargas, and Chidera Ejuke.
All the above players can play as left— or right-wingers and can play beside the line or move inside.
Regarding the striker position, the team has Akor Adams, Isaac Romero and the returned players from loans, Kelechi Iheanacho and Rafa Mir.
Additionally, there is Peque Fernández, who can play as a striker, second striker, and winger.
I cannot predict Matías Almeyda’s starting striker choice; the five strikers have different characteristics. However, if he chooses a striker who can play as a target man and also receive crosses, I think Romero will be a good fit for that role.
Conclusion
Matías Almeyda’s philosophy is based on playing vertical balls forward from the defenders to the attacking line, with the midfield players helping to open passing lanes.
Additionally, the midfield players accompanying him are expected to possess the mobility to move freely across the field, both in attack and defence.
Following a disappointing season, Sevilla fans are hoping for a step forward under the Argentine coach.
It’s a chance for Matías Almeyda to put his stamp on Sevilla and have his style of play broadcast to a wider range of people.
However, turning things around in Andalusia will take time, and coaches buy time with results.
The faster the players buy into the new coach’s philosophy, the better the chances for Almeyda.
