Rodrygo solves soloist

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Rodrygo does not miss an opportunity, strange as it may be. On an afternoon in which Sevilla and Real Madrid seemed to look a little sideways, the Brazilian dispatched a solitary function, a small act of rebellion with touches of genius in his second goal, an electric maneuver of futsal in the area with which he culminated a counter. Jose Luis Mendilibar's team is already living with their minds on the Europa League final they play on Wednesday in Budapest against Mourinho's Roma. Madrid, which remains determined to maintain the second place that threatens Atletico, appeared in Seville apparently unarmed.

SEVSevilla

1

Bono, Rekik, Marcos Acuña, Montiel, Gudelj (Loic Bade, min. 80), Manu Bueno, Rakitic (Suso, min. 62), Papu Gómez (Óliver Torres, min. 74), Lamela (Jesús Corona, min. 74), Bryan Gil Salvatierra (Joan Jordán, min. 62) and Rafa Mir

RMA Real Madrid

2

Courtois, Lucas Vázquez (Rüdiger, min. 81), Ferland Mendy (Álvaro Rodríguez, min. 65), Eder Militao, Alaba, Aurelien Tchouameni, Modric, Kroos, Dani Ceballos, Federico Valverde (Camavinga, min. 54) and Rodrygo (Nacho, min. 80)

Goals 1-0 min. 3: Rafa Mir. 1-1 min. 28: Rodrygo. 1-2 min. 69: Rodrygo.

Arbitrator Cesar Soto Grado

Yellow cards Lucas Vázquez (min. 33), Aurelien Tchouameni (min. 65), Nacho (min. 83), Dani Ceballos (min. 91) and Óliver Torres (min. 96)

Vinicius, Benzema, Asensio and Mariano stayed at home, so Rodrygo was the closest Carlo Ancelotti had to sustain a lead. On the bench he left the academy player Álvaro Rodríguez, who had a few minutes, and especially Eden Hazard, the most expensive signing in the history of the club, who had appeared an hour two weeks ago against Getafe, and who in the Sánchez Pizjuán did not even appear. There Ancelotti finished archiving it almost definitively.

Before using the Belgian, the Italian preferred to populate the team with midfielders, and put Valverde and Ceballos to accompany Rodrygo. Although what resulted was rather a solitary mission of the Brazilian.

The configuration of the eleven led Madrid to the central zone as if the enemy had directed it towards a gorge. Kroos, Modric, Tchouameni, Ceballos, Valverde, Rodrygo, and even Lucas and Mendy from the wings played there. Sometimes, even Militão and Alaba. There, in a space colonized by five midfielders, a carousel of fast and precise passes was deployed that languished as they approached the area. Only a clairvoyant and deep diagonal from Ceballos to Lucas disarmed the opponent, but Rodrygo wasted the opportunity face to face with Bono. It was fleeting. In general, Madrid kneaded and kneaded.

By pure automatism, from time to time Lucas escaped a center to the area, as if Benzema was still there. On the other side, Sevilla looked the opposite. His part of the field gave the impression of being wider, thanks to the efforts of Montiel and Lamela on the right and Acuña and Bryan Gil on the left. That's where the first blow of Mendilibar's team came. Acuña surprised the back of Lucas, won the baseline, and began a small succession of clearances, shots and rejections that ended up depositing the ball in the left of Rafa Mir, who took a flash to the squad.

Sevilla lived on those spasms, with brief periods of control in the center, where Manu Bueno debuted, the first academy player to whom Mendilibar opens track in Sevilla. The Basque coach, like all Sevillism, has Budapest in mind, which favored the debut of the 18-year-old midfielder. The Jerez moved without revealing any tremor, clean in the pass and daring in the change of pace.

Just like that, Madrid broke the lack of spice of its fluid circulation. Tchouameni changed the pace, headed into the area and Lamela fouled him. Rodrygo executed a pitch with more mischief than mastery. He caught Bono on the back foot, below, without even needing to adjust too much to the stick, and scored the equalizer.

Sevilla played two games, the Pizjuán and Wednesday in Hungary, which was the one that dictated the script of the changes, as well as all the personnel management. At the time, Mendilibar withdrew Rakitic and Bryan Gil, two of the three field starters he enlisted at the start, and Madrid already stayed with the command, which until then had been discussed several times by Lamela and Rafa Mir.

Real finished clearing the picture in a counter like those of the old days, a spasm born of a foul against. Rodrygo dribbled the ball and left it to Modric, who found Kroos. The German disarmed the rest of the resistance with a deep pass to Rodrygo's run, who was already there, the other side of the field. He entered the area and got rid of Montiel with two dribbles that knotted his legs and scored in a parquet maneuver.

Although he wanted more, Ancelotti removed him from the field to control the result and tie up a victory that did not embite Sevilla too much. The stands dismissed the players of Mendilibar trying to propel them towards the final on Wednesday, without paying attention to the score now.

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