The premise of Lopetegui’s Sevilla was clear: stop Yannick Carrasco. The Atlético player arrived at the appointment as one of the fittest footballers in the competition, contributing with goals, overflow, back and forth and a dribbling that is practically unstoppable… at least civil.
The Belgian was object of the kicks of the Sevilla defense every time he tried to face with meters. Sánchez Martínez decreed five fouls on Carrasco, showing two yellow cards, to Montiel and Rafa Mir, and forgiving Gudelj after an action where the Belgian was seriously injured on the pitch and Hermoso ended up being reprimanded for his protests from the rojiblanco bench. The winger also requested as many more unreported fouls.
Without a doubt, the most aggressive action was that of a Montiel who disregarded the ball when Carrasco had already touched his back and gave him a very hard kick with no chance of reaching the ball. The referee drew the yellow card and warned of the aggressiveness of the tackle, so Lopetegui decided to replace the Argentine with Navas at half-time. From the mattress stand, the action of the VAR was demanded to review an action where it was clear that the only objective was to intimidate and that the Belgian did not continue with the play. The rojiblanco was lying on the pitch for a long time, and although he ended Giménez’s assist from the corner, he did not live a comfortable game at all.
According to Olocip dataCarrasco is the Atlético player who receives the most fouls per minute and the ninth in all of LaLiga. A list where João Félix is the fifth player with the most fouls received in ground duels of the competition and led the list with the highest frequency of infractions received for much of the championship. Atlético is the seventeenth team in LaLiga in reported fouls (462), but nevertheless it is the third that has received the most yellow cards (103), although many have been to protest. If protection is requested for the most mediatic soccer players in the competition, as it has happened with Vinicus or Dembélé, the Carrasco or João Félix or players from other teams like Fekir, Muniain, Guedes or Isi they have also suffered harshness to try to stop their game.