“Odegard knows me very well at Madrid, he knows i don’t joke with Champions League, Saka and Martinelli are too easy for me to handle”- Street-fighter Sergio Ramos delivers a brutal press conference ahead of Sevilla’s clash against Arsenal in the Champions League tonight
He was a brave manager who allowed television cameras to snoop in his dressing room. Arsenal’s Mikel Arteta was forced to do this for the documentary series All Or Nothing, then relayed some of his more unorthodox motivational techniques to a skeptical audience.
But at least Arteta has been warned. This weekend, Sevilla’s Diego Alonso was ambushed during his European coaching debut, in front of the cameras and microphones of La Liga broadcasters monitoring his team’s chatter during and after the 1-1 draw. 1 with Real Madrid.
Alonso, who was appointed Sevilla’s fourth coach a fortnight ago in less than two years, has come out of the close and gets the credit. His instructions before a match he described as a “street fight” excited us, his praise for his “courageous” players was generous .
In front of the camera, Alonso also received significant support, a hug from the super street fighter, Seville’s most classy fighter, Sergio Ramos.
Against Arteta’s Arsenal, Ramos will make his 140th Champions League appearance on Tuesday. Alonso, newly arrived from South America, will feature in a UEFA competition for the first time in his career.
There is an imbalance of experience between player and coach that the new Sevilla coach must manage carefully, maintaining his authority while taking advantage of all the know-how of Ramos and other veterans in the team.
When Ramos returned this summer to Sevilla, where he had begun his senior professional career more than two decades ago, it was not a move entirely welcomed by supporters. During 16 years at Real Madrid, the demonstrative Ramos made one or two provocative gestures towards Sevilla fans but there is no denying his impact.
But for a fine late save from Madrid goalkeeper Kepa, a trademark Ramos header might have claimed all three points from the weekend. Ramos had earlier cleared a Madrid effort from just in front of the Sevilla goal-line.
His homecoming reunites him with a club who, during the years Ramos was away, mainly at Madrid, and latterly for a two-season stint in Paris, defined themselves as one of football’s sharpest operators at scouting talent and selling it on at big profit.
But looking at the current Sevilla, winners of the Europa League but bottom of the Spanish rankings, it can be seen that their reliable habit of spotting talented players near their peak has encountered some obstacles.
Sevilla Alonso inherits from José Luis Mendilibar, fired after a poor start to the 2023/24 season, relying heavily on former allies. In the match against Arsenal, Ramos, 37, will likely line up in a defense line that includes his contemporary Jesus Navas. Like Ramos and Navas – who previously played for Manchester City – Ivan Rakitic, 35, has a second job in Seville.
Arteta, at 41, is young enough to have played against Ramos and Navas, and he actually witnessed Ramos’ first La Liga goal 19 years ago, scoring against then-club Arteta’s Real Sociedad.
More than a century of goals for the club in the long and up-and-down career of Ramos, the street-smart centre-back with sharp attacking instincts, the icon still defies thoughts of retirement.
Arteta will advise his Arsenal, who drew 2-2 at Chelsea at the weekend, to monitor Ramos in both penalty areas. He will encourage his younger forwards to test the Sevilla veterans with their pace in transition. Among Navas’s tasks at full-back will be to try to contain 22-year-old Gabriel Martinelli.
Ramos can expect to renew acquaintance with Gabriel Jesus. Their last meeting finished prematurely for the former Spain captain in a Champions League knockout tie between Madrid and Jesus’s then club Manchester City at the Bernabeu.
A foul on the Brazilian striker by the defender; a red card for Ramos, one of the 28 times he has been sent off in a senior career that has taken in World Cup and two European championship triumphs, and four winning Champions League finals.
“We should be confident in the resources we have,” said Alonso, gesturing to the mass of experience in the likes of Ramos, Rakitic and Navas as he looked ahead to Arsenal’s arrival in Spain for the first of back-to-back fixtures with, already, much at stake.
Arsenal lost at Lens, the group leaders, earlier this month, and if they lose to Sevilla, who have drawn their two matches so far, Arteta’s men would slip out of the top two places in the mini-league.
Can“It’s going to be challenge against this opposition,” acknowledged Alonso. “But we can impose ourselves on the game.”
