• 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

Know more

  • sports

  • soccer

  • Copa del Rey

  • Sevilla FC

  • UD Almeria

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