Leicester City face tough Champions League test as their fairytale wanes
For the reigning Premier League champions, Leicester City, it would be unthinkable that they would be sat a mere point above the relegation zone in early February.
Flashbacks of Jamie Vardy wheeling away in celebration, Riyad Mahrez’s magic and Andrea Bocelli belting out pre-match songs will be rife within the minds of disillusioned Leicester supporters, but there is still one beam of hope in what has been an entirely hapless campaign so far.
On February 22, the Foxes will make the trip to southern Spain to Seville, where Jorge Sampaoli’s side will be there to meet them in the last 16 of the Champions League. After navigating their group with relative ease, without hitting the imperious heights of their title-winning performances, Claudio Ranieri and company will be on what is nothing sort of a mission of appeasement.
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Leicester topped Group G to put them in the best possible position for the knock-out rounds, after losing just once over six match days in a pool of teams that including FC Porto, FC Copenhagen and Club Brugge, edging out tight results with an average of narrowly over a goal per group match.
Mahrez is the joint-fourth top scorer in the competition, level on four goals with Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Karim Benzema, Dries Mertens, Mesut Ozil, Arda Turan and Andre Silva, but a trip to the Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan offers an entirely different proposition to what the Algeria international has been accustomed to while playing a key role so far in European competition.
Sevilla sit in third place in LaLiga, having previously occupied second place above both Atletico Madrid and Barcelona in recent months, and are an entirely different machine from the one purpose-built for progression in the Europa League under ex-coach Unai Emery.
Sampaoli has a talented squad with all hands at the pump, with their collective spirit and desire aiding them hugely in an unexpected push for automatic Champions League qualification - or potentially the title should Real Madrid slip up during the second of the season in Spain. They offer tactical flexibility in-game and have commanded total respect from any team they have faced in the league this campaign - Zinedine Zidane even played with a back five in the Copa del Rey for good measure.
After finishing second in their Champions League group behind Juventus, while maintaining blistering domestic form, Sevilla are everything that Leicester wish they could have emulated this term. Wissam Ben Yedder and Stevan Jovetic are both capable of offering wit and guile up front, while Samir Nasri and Steven N’Zonzi have provided the perfect French connection in the centre of midfield.
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The former, having ditched his bleach-blonde hair, has consistently offered driving runs from the middle of the park and invention both in and around the area. N’Zonzi, meanwhile, is the fulcrum of Los Nervionenses’ play.
Mariano and Sergio Escudero offer flying support down the wings, which is bound to force Mahrez and Ahmed Musa to track back out wide, which could entirely nullify Leicester’s attacking threat - save for long, hopeless balls forward into either a lone front man of Vardy or the physical specimen of Islam Slimani. Without their wingers in close support of the counter-attack, it will ask a lot for the Foxes’ breaks upfield to not outrun their supply lines.
Vitolo, Pablo Sarabia and Franco Vazquez are just three key options of a talented offensive orchestra that Sampaoli has at his disposal, with Sevilla appearing to have 101 ways to pick apart a Leicester defence which has looked off-key and disharmonious in comparison to during their title-winning adventure.
Ranieri has needed a public vote of confidence from the Leicester board recently, after a five-game winless run heading into mid-February, but the Champions League offers the chance for the Foxes to either kick-start their season or allow their fans to enjoy the escapism that comes along with European away jaunts.
The pressure is firmly upon Leicester, both domestically and in the Champions League, but Sevilla are quickly looking like the team that can compound their last-16 opponent’s miseries. With a knock-out game on the horizon at the Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan, a stadium which only Juventus and Barcelona have triumphed at since May of last year, Leicester’s nightmarish first-half of the campaign looks to have left them in a very fragile state.
The form books point to Sevilla, with Sampaoli’s squad outperforming their opponents immeasurably on the field of play this season, scoring freely and offering an improved defensive record in spite of their creativity.
All that remains is for Leicester to renew their status as plucky underdogs and impress on a stage that the world did not think that they could triumph on – and that situation just might just feel comfortable and familiar for the Foxes.