Narration: This is how we live the game
Cup.The crosses
There will always be the question of what would have happened if
José Gomes came
to bet on the men he considers starters, those who are fighting right now with Espanyol and Mallorca for direct promotion to First Division.
But the Portuguese coach chose justice before any other argument to make his eleven in a historic appointment for the club.
Those in this quarter-final match were the men who had killed Osasuna a week earlier, several of those who had beaten Alavés in the previous round.
If there was a third first eliminated, if there was a semifinal, those same players would have to win it.
And there was no new feat, because
Sevilla
imposed their logic, but no one can reproach
Almería
that he did not fight it until the end and that a Champions team did not compete first.
But the Cinderella cup story ended here.
That is not little.
Sevilla's victory already guarantees, whatever happens between Wednesday and Thursday, that the semifinals of this Copa del Rey will be played by four First-class teams.
In
Papu Gómez's
discreet debut
, it was his compatriot
Ocampos
who scored the qualifying goal, the one that leaves Sevilla only three games away from being champion again.
And Almería said goodbye with a very high head after a remarkable tournament and only thinking about being able to play in the First Division next season.
Lopetegui's
box came out more plugged
and that allowed him to subdue his rival during the first quarter of an hour, enjoying a couple of good chances that he was not able to materialize.
With the Seville downpour stopped, Almeria was able to balance the duel and even sometimes discuss dominance over a Sevilla that lacked depth.
Fernando
and
Gudelj
were repeated cards in the medullary and
Rakitic
was very alone in the creation.
Papu Gómez, in his first game in Spain, participated too little.
Normal after just a couple of training sessions with his new teammates, of course.
Lopetegui rectifies
Lopetegui corrected his initial approach at halftime, bringing
Munir in
through
Gudelj
and going to a 3-4-1-2 in which Papu acted as playmaker, his most natural position, and the bands remained for
Aleix Vidal
-the best of the first half- and Ocampos.
It took 15 minutes for the Basque coach to verify that the change of skin had not improved his team, which perhaps had made him more predictable and static, despite
Koundé's
attempts to
get
out of the cave to reach the opposite area.
Suso
and
En-Nesyri
were their bets for the final half hour, thus recovering a more classic scheme.
The goal, however, did not emerge from the big board, but from the small one, the one where set pieces are prepared.
In the 67th minute, Suso took a short corner and behind a wall sent the ball to the near post, where Ocampos managed to anticipate the Almeria defense to connect an impossible header for
Fernando
.
No goalkeeper could have stopped such a precise head.
After the goal, Sevilla tempered their spirits and Granada held on to their thread of life.
Sadiq
, the Nigerian giant who has 11 goals in the Second Division, two behind top scorer
De Tomás
, entered the field to look for more punch.
But in front he found a Koundé who feels full, both defending a striker as uncomfortable as breaking lines inside in attack.
Almeria ran out of gas and Suso and Munir had opportunities to extend the advantage.
They did not succeed.
It would not have been fair for this hatred Almería.
According to the criteria of The Trust Project
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