Cadiz vs Sevilla: The runner-up won, but not that impressive

Match preview 

Sevilla are having a really good form which is proven by their second standing in the 2021-22 La Liga table. They have had four unbeaten in recent games in the La Liga, with three wins and one draw. This game will be the first journey in the new year to Cadiz’s home ground, but it is definitely not a threat for Julen Lopetegui’s club. 

On the other hand, Cadiz are struggling with the bottom positions and facing relegation. They have won only two La Liga games since the beginning of the season. A ticket to return to Segunda in the next season almost certainly belongs to Alvaro Cervera and his students. 

Sevilla even have more chances and determination to win this game because they are in the race for the championship. At this moment, they have eight points fewer than the table-leading team, Read Madrid, but are also playing one game fewer. 

If Sevilla defeat the home team this time, the difference between them and Carlo Ancelotti’s club will be only five points. So winning this game doesn’t only mean to prove themselves in front of an underdog of this game, but also to be closer to the trophy. 

Line-up

• Cadiz: Jeremías Ledesma; Carlos Akapo, Varazdat Haroyan, Victor Chust, Alfonso Espino; Iván Chapela, Tomás Alarcón, Martín Calderon, Jens Jonson; Álvaro Negredo, Milutin Osmajic.
• Sevilla: Bono; Nemanja Gudelj, Diego Carlos, Marcos Acuña, Ludwig Augustinsson; Joan Jordán, Fernando Reges, Ivan Rakitić; Lucas Ocampos, Alejandro Darío Gómez, Iván Romero.

Lucas Ocampos scored the only goal of the game 

Sevilla had the first answer to the goal of the home team right in the first minute. Joan Jordan created a dangerous shot that almost brought the opening goal for the visitors, but it didn’t. 

Although being judged inferior, Cadiz showed that they are not that bad. Their defending line performed well in the first half of the game, and they kept their sheet clean after several difficult and risky shots from Sevilla. Obviously, Sevilla didn’t show their best in this game, especially when competing with a second-ranked team from the bottom of the table. 

In the 58th minute, Sevilla scored the opening goal thanks to the Argentine forward, Lucas Ocampos. It started with a corner kick, followed by messy passes in the box. Ivan Rakitic then had a sensitive pass that was enough to reach Ocampos and didn’t lead to an offside. The result was the narrow shot from Lucas Ocampos to defeat Ledesma.   

Lucas Ocampos scored the only goal for Sevilla to defeat Cadiz

In the last minutes of the game, Sevilla had a good possession with the ball. They had several chances to score, but all failed. In the 85th minute, the home team had a counter-attack and a really good chance to equalize the score.

It was a pass from the No.21 player of Cadiz to the loaned player Florin Andone, whose header was not accurate and went beyond the crossbar.

The game finally ended up with a 0-1 score, with the victory belonging to Sevilla. Although it was not an impressive game for the club from the city of Sevilla, Locas Ocampus still sent three important points for Sevilla to increase their chance to be crowned the title.  

Updated 2021-22 La Liga table

After this La Liga game, Sevilla obtained all three points and have narrowed the gap with Real Madrid to only five points. They are standing second in the league table, and have eight points greater than the third-ranked club, Real Betis, keeping them safer in the runner-up position. Sevilla obviously have a great opportunity to win this season of La Liga if they have good form in the next path of the tournament. 

On the other hand, Cadiz increased their losing games to nine out of 19 games, remaining 14 points. With this result, it is quite hard for Álvaro Cervera’s club to get out of the bottom three teams and save them from relegation. 

2021-22 La Liga table

References

Wikipedia

Betimate.com

Vavel.com