La Liga 2018/19: Real Betis v Sevilla

In arguably the most hotly anticipated Andalusian derby in history, Real Betis and Sevilla met at the Estadio Benito Villamarín this past Sunday. A 5-3 away win for Betis at the Ramón Sánchez Pizjuán in last season’s derby shocked La Liga and bolstered the reputation of the Seville derby globally. Though it’s been known throughout Spain for some time, many football fans are only learning recently how intense El Gran Derbi really is.

Real Betis have been rightly lauded for their style of play since the arrival of head coach Quique Setién who led them to 6^th in La Liga last season but have begun this season slowly with a loss and a draw. Sevilla had a disappointing end to last season, finishing 7^th and losing the Copa Del Rey final and brought in new head coach Pablo Machín this summer. Both headed into this game with wrongs to right as the world anticipated another derby classic. We take a look at the events that unfolded in the Benito Villamarín.

Build-Up Play

With both sides setup in fluid 3-4-3 systems, Betis and Sevilla somewhat cancelled each other out in the early stages. Quique Setién and Pablo Machín both demand that their team look to play out from the back and initiate patient build-ups. But both sides also looked to stop the other playing out from the back comfortably. Betis did so by marking man-to-man and pressing the ball carrier aggressively, Sevilla by pushing their forwards and midfield high and cutting off forward passing lanes. Sevilla’s press was the slightly less aggressive of the two and therefore the Real Betis back 3 had much of the first half possession. Sevilla’s front 3 and midfield pushed up high in an attempt to counter Betis’s known competence for playing out from the back and through the opposition press.

But this left a large unoccupied area of space between the Sevillistas’ midfield and back 3 and it didn’t take Los Verdiblancos long to take advantage of it. Béticos looked to exploit the gap in the Sevilla structure and played the ball long to their front 3, particularly targeting the tallest of them, Loren Morón. Morón was marked tightly by Sevilla’s Danish centre-back Simon Kjær and the two had an intense physical battle throughout the night.

To avoid the constant threat of 3v3 situations in their own half, Sevilla made alterations to their press as the game wore on. Éver Banega began to sit a little deeper to close off the space between the Sevilla midfield and back 3. The high press became less aggressive as the Sevilla players looked to cut-off passing lanes instead.