Sevilla are back into the Champions League after a great first season with Julen Lopetegui as coach.
They had a complete squad overhaul last summer after Monchi returned as sporting director. Some of those signings proved to be excellent, such as centre-backs Jules Kounde and Diego Carlos and forward Lucas Ocampos. Others were busts, like Rony Lopes and Munas Dabbur. But Sevilla threw so many darts against the board that they were always going to hit a few bullseyes.
Sevilla started really well and even led the table at points. They suffered a mid-season slump and had a disappointing Copa del Rey campaign by losing to Mirandes, but did well after the coronavirus pause by not losing any of their 11 remaining fixtures. That saw them secure fourth and even finish level on points with third-placed Atletico Madrid.
As mentioned, the centre-back duo of Kounde and Carlos were excellent and the full-backs Jesus Navas and Sergio Reguilon were good too, helping Sevilla to a great defensive record. Sevilla’s weakness was that they didn’t score enough and relied too much on Ocampos, often dominating possession without turning it into goals.
They’ll need to work on being more clinical as they look ahead to next season and they may need to think about replacing Luuk de Jong as their main No.9.
But, overall, this has been a good first campaign for Lopetegui and Sevilla are also still alive in the Europa League, their favourite competition, for when that resumes in August.
