La Liga match preview: Sevilla vs. Real Madrid

Real Madrid will travel to Seville to take on an impressive Sevilla side for the mid-week fixture in La Liga. Sevilla will prove to be a stern test for Los Blancos as they have been playing some good football under ex-Girona boss Pablo Manchin.

After a grueling 1-0 win over Espanyol at the Bernabéu, Real Madrid will travel to Seville to face Sevilla. Real Madrid currently sits second on La Liga table, level on points with Barcelona who were held by Girona to a draw.

The game against Espanyol showed us the good and bad of the Lope ball as the visitors kept pressing for the equalizer. Espanyol had Real Madrid on the ropes for the last 20 minutes of the game, threatening to score.

However, these were the kind of games that Real Madrid would have lost last season. The fact that Real Madrid came away with a win should speak volumes about the mentality of the side.

Real Madrid has a tough week ahead with games against Sevilla, Atletico Madrid and CSKA Moscow in Champions League. Needless to say, Real Madrid will be tested to their limits and it is during these games that we will surely get to understand Lopetegui’s rotational policies and the way he is going to manoeuvre the team during clogged schedules.

Sevilla currently sits 7maneuver points table with 2 wins, 1 draw and 2 losses. However, they are still getting used to Machin’s way of football. There are differences though. Girona used a low and compact block to leave no space in the central channels and kept defending most of the game. However, this will not be accepted at Sevilla and Manchin will try to bring out the more attacking side of his management. They have shown early signs of promise and Real Madrid will have to be on their A game to win 3 points at Sevilla, something they have not been able to do in last 3 visits to Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan.