Lopetegui, a long negative streak that ends with a record-breaking stage

Updated:06/10/2022 11:13

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The Sevilla FC y Julen Lopetegui They officially separated their paths after several months in which these paths did not seem to materialize. A bad series of results, in which the Nervionense club fell both in the second round, from the last edition of the Copa del Rey against the eternal rival, and in its favorite competition: the UEFA Europa League, in the one that was abandoned by West Ham in March; as in LaLiga, in which he added only four wins in the last 19 games that led the Nervión entity to sack Asteasu.

But the truth is that Julen Lopetegui’s stint at Sevilla FC will be remembered as a success after his success lift a continental title like the UEFA Europa League in which he eliminated the almighty as the Romethe Manchester United or the Inter Milan.

And as if he had little merit, in a year of pandemic that restored the illusion of Sevilla fans with a project born from Monchiupon returning from his Italian trip, together with the same Basque coach and full of new footballers who have become Sevilla stars such as Bono, Jules Koundé, diego carlo, Fernando, Giovanna Giordano, Lucas Ocampos, En-Nesyri or one Luca De Jong who scored two goals in the final in Cologne that made the nervionian fans dream again and all commanded by a Always Banega that he would leave at the end of that successful 2019-20 campaign. Before the final phase in Germany where the Sevillistas’ headquarters became a real bunker and where the players joined together to become a big ‘family’, that team and that coach had reached the UEFA Champions League qualification after three years without doing it.

After that summer when Sevilla FC players and coaching staff had just ten days off, the foundations were laid for one of the best Sevilla teams of all time. The departure of important players such as Sergio Reguilon y Banega was supplemented by the arrivals of Marco Acunathe return of Ivan Rakitic or the winter signature of Papu Gomez. Julen Lopetegui’s team completed a dream season in which they fell after competing one-on-one with the almighty Bayern Monaco in the extension of European Super Cup Final (2-1) played in Budapest after taking the lead with Lucas Ocampos from eleven meters and En-Nesyri missed an opportunity in injury time that would have given the Nervionenses victory. who managed to get to the S.King’s Cup semi-final, eliminated by FC Barcelona in extra time after a goal in injury time in the second leg; in Europe it was also very close to making history, as it was disassembled from Borussia Dortmund in the round of 16 with a Erling Haaland who has already dazzled the world of football and who was the great executioner of the Sevillistas in a close tie but that the Norwegian opted in favor of the Germans. Finally, in La Ligain which he completed a historical campaignsince you have yours points recordarriving at the figure of 77 points exceeding what has been achieved Unai Emery in 2014-15, in which he added 76 points. He also finished fourth and secured his place in the top continental competition for the second consecutive year, the first to do so via national competition and finishing in the top four.

In the summer of 2020, Sevilla FC received a multitude of offers for its great players such as Jules Koundé, who was very close to leaving for Chelsea, or for his own coach, Julen Lopetegui, who had an offer, who eventually refused, since Tottenham. Once the season began, Sevilla FC had a spectacular first round in which they once again broke records and fought side by side with Real Madrid in La Liga for the winter championship. That yes, his terrible performance in the group stage of the UEFA Champions League, in which he was framed with three teams a priori lower than the Sevillistas, and in which he was eliminated, was the black point of a very good campaign start. . Far from being satisfied with what they did in the first half of the season, Sevilla FC have tried to continue growing and strengthened with ambitious signings from Tecatito crownexpress request of the Basque coach, e Martialthe latter on loan The elimination from the Cup against the eternal rival with an endless list of victims and the incident with Joan Jordán, led to a series of doubts that led the Nervionenses to obtain only one victory in the league in the five subsequent games, even if he was not defeated either.

A second-round win at El Gran Derbi with an excellent first half gave the Seville the illusion of continuing to look up, but a new elimination, this time against West Ham in the UEFA Europa League round of 16, brought the Nervionenses to a crisis of results in which they have only achieved win four games of the last 19 in the league, while sealing again, for the third consecutive year, the UEFA Champions League standings, which led the Nervión club to consider its continuity, although it is the president, Giuseppe Castroas vice president, José Maria del Nido CarrascoThey saw him more outside than inside.

After a summer in which planning highlighted the shortcomings of the Sevilla squad with the departure of key pieces for the Basque manager such as Diego Carlos, Jules Koundé or Lucas Ocampos and a disappointing start in both La Liga, with only five of the 21 points at stake, as in the UEFA Champions League, where he has one in six, only the confidence of the body’s sporting director general, Monchi, kept Julen Lopetegui, who was unable to change the bad dynamics of his team, in the bench. From the aspiration to win La Liga to having to look back in case it goes downhill. All that transformation in a few months in which the Basque coach was unable to reverse the situation.

Despite this, there is no doubt that Julen Lopetegui was one of the best coaches in the history of Sevilla FC for his successes, both in terms of title won, and for his meritorious championship rankings and historical records in regular competition. As the Basque coach himself pointed out in the press conference before the clash, he headed the Sevilla team 170 parties in which he won 90ah tied 44 and has lost 36 with a positive balance of 247 goals in favor and 164 against despite the poor results of the last few weeks ea average points of 1.84 for every meeting.

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