“LaLiga is this year or never”, he said (so bajinis, because the official discourse makes it a public taboo) more than one who works in the entrails of Sánchez-Pizjuán after Real Madrid was only able to rescue a point against Elche. A tie that also made Sevilla’s equalizer against Celta relatively good after coming back from another 0-2.
Hours after that day ended, with Sevilla still four points behind the leader and the Champions League position more or less consolidated, French striker Anthony Martial landed in Seville to sign on loan at the Nervión club. Martial will undergo a medical and then sign on loan for the remainder of this season. Sevilla takes over his part of the salary and reserves the option of obtaining his loan for another season.
At 26 years old and after spending a lot of time on the bench lately at Manchester United, Martial intends to turn his career around and win a place with France in the World Cup in Qatar. Nervión awaits its maximum level with enthusiasm and impatience. It is a media signing, without a doubt, among other things because the red and white club has won the battle against some European behemoths, such as Juventus of Turin itself. But Martial is much more than that: Monchi and Julen Lopetegui hope that the striker will make the final jump in quality to a forward that has been in tenguerengue for many months, with En-Nesyri first injured and right now in the Africa Cup, pulling the discussed Rafa Mir and Iván Romero, a boy from the quarry.
A miracle, for many. The goals from Mir himself, relieved by the numbers, and the rebirth of Lucas Ocampos have allowed Sevilla to continue to become the great and right now the only alternative to Real Madrid in LaLiga, and also to remain alive, eliminated from the Champions League, by least in the Europa League. With Papu Gómez between the band and a better performance in midfield, Lucas seems to be the only fixture in a Sevilla attack that will be almost completely remodeled with the arrivals of Martial himself and the Mexican Tecatito Corona, who has left very good feelings in his first minutes.
En-Nesyri and Munir, the team’s other strikers, return to Seville on February 10 at the latest, meaning they will miss at most one or two more games. It will be especially important to check the physical condition of the first, Youssef, who, between injuries and Covid, has only been seen in this Africa Cup with Morocco. Shortly after the striker from Fez acquires part of the form he showed last season, in which he scored 24 goals, Sevilla will earn the ticket to dream of another title. The Europa League of its final in Nervión… Or, “this year or never”, the often utopian League title.