The wait is over. There is almost no time left to get the classic supplies to watch these types of games at home with family or friends. The specified time meant that the dishes were not even on the table, since it was mealtime … Sunday in Seville is usually not too early. And on the allocated days less. Because big days are big days because they change the dynamics. By understanding that time does not matter. To enjoy every minute of waiting. Like Palm Sunday that passes so quickly when the eve (of Lent) becomes an eternity with the longing to see the first one on the street. The same thing happens in the Seville derby. Its history has been talked about since the advent of the calendar. Rival fans challenge each other with “I’ll catch you” when the bell rings. Sevilla and Betis are competing for more than three points. More than victory or defeat. It’s the game that will, for better or worse, mark next week’s smiley gesture or crooked nose. Or every time a Sevilla player and a Betic player meet in the street. It is the magic of a city that passionately lives what it understands is its own. And no one else.
Behind that mystery and mystique to those who see it from afar, there is only a hidden game of football, where nerves play tricks and tend to lead to matches with too much testosterone and too little play. With so many previous encounters, it’s clear that everything has happened. Defeats on both sides or unexpected victories for both neighborhoods. And many disagreements. Too many. The culprit is always sought when the result is negative. He’s a human being. And it is not only this blessed city that has the advantage of hiding behind a third party. The only truth is football, which will decide whether one team is better than another for a few days due to a deserved win or allow everyone to evaluate whether a draw is good or bad.
Wins/draws/losses
Wins/draws/losses
Source: Special detail / Drawing: A. MONTES / ABC SEVILLA
Wins/draws/losses
Wins/draws/losses
Source: Special detail / Drawing: A. MONTES / ABC SEVILLA
Many would sign it in advance to avoid derby tension. That inevitable suffering of someone who carries in his heart an inherited shield and feels as if he is being stabbed if he sees him losing to his eternal rival. There is no room for favoritism, although in reality there is always a team better than another, or a team that arrives at a better time than its opponent. Without going any further, in the previous derby, Betis beat Sevilla in Benito Villamarín after an unbeaten streak for the reds in their home stadium that had continued for a long time. Pellegrini’s men arrived in Europe and showed their superiority over a Sevilla team that was already clearly in decline. They did not reach the relegation zone by a single point. They were too far apart to compete, although the 2-1 final scoreline came up short. In the first round held in Nervion, Al Nasr fell to the local side. Sevilla also beat Betis with a score of (1-0), which showed that they know how to play this type of match better when they are inferior. This is his great asset and Petek’s fear.
Because the green and white team has been superior – on paper – to Sevilla for some time. It looks better in the league and generates more significant sales, as well as access to a more relevant market in terms of acquisitions. He can bet a huge amount, as happened with Anthony, although in the end the Brazilian was left naked in a duel of such importance. Football related stuff. Sevilla will also have to regret the absences, especially the ones they have accumulated in the last week, with key players like Ruben Vargas and Suazo remaining in the starting lineup. Therefore, Almeida and Pellegrini will have to think carefully about their teams and strategies, as the Argentine will be the one who has to take more risks with his approach to surprise the experienced Chilean.
Figures from the derby in Nervion
Results, season
season
Color indicates
Winner from
Match (in grey
relationships)
Objectives
marked
per
equipment
The biggest win
Seville in
House in Derby
1977
(Betis only had
Winning the King’s Cup)
results
That was it
Repeat more
times
2000-01
(Derby per second
to divide)
2012-13
(Another big win
From Seville: 5-1)
Three seasons
Followed by
Pettis unmarked
One goal
2017-18
(Betis wins
At home: 3-5)
The biggest win
Betis and Derby
With more goals
In the state
Seville
2022-23
(Joaquin’s last derby. Pictured,
The great capitals of both
difference)
2024-25
(The last derby in Pizjuan,
Local win: 1-0)
Source: Special detail / Drawing: A. MONTES / ABC SEVILLA
Figures from the derby in Nervion
Results, season
season
Color indicates
Winner from
Match (in grey
relationships)
Goals were scored
For each team
Derby photo album
1977
(Betis
It was just
Winning the cup
the king)
2000-01
(Derby in
second
to divide)
2012-13
(last
Big win
From Seville:
5-1)
2017-18
(The wounded
From Betis to
house:
3-5)
2022-23
(Joaquin’s last derby. Pictured,
The two great capitals of both groups)
2024-25
(The last derby in Pizjuan,
Local win: 1-0)
Source: Special detail / Drawing: A. MONTES / ABC SEVILLA
Matias and Manuel are the real leaders of Sevilla and Betis respectively. The people who lead your projects. Pellegrini is on the verge of signing his well-deserved renewal, and now he’s clearing away that talk of his future in the Betic rallies. It’s an issue that has gotten a little out of hand for the club in terms of timing, with excessive hype surrounding the issue. With everyone agreeing, unless he makes the signing move, his pending case will remain at the derby. How to deal with him and confirm Betis’ strength in the derby. It costs him. Even the last in his stadium was unable to declare victory, a situation – almost the only one – that still distorts him in the corridors of Villamarin. Let him not bite in matches like this, with the need to feel the superiority that Betis has in this type of match, and even more so in enemy territory.
Almeida has doubts about how he can sink his teeth into Betis. How to stop a back-and-forth match where the opponent feels more comfortable and grips them with suffocating pressure, short-circuiting the heart with a minefield. A similar match to the one Sevilla played against Barcelona, being a completely different team, although with the feeling of a big game having to go out with great tension. In that contagion, between responsibility and euphoria, where the Argentine coach wants to place the eleven wrestlers to whom he will give the starting jersey. He kept more than one secret. It will be known an hour before it all starts.
Because the derby is served at lunchtime. Very cold. Without time to warm up or even think about the consequences. A match that does not split a city in two, but rather unites it in a sense of uncontrolled tension to celebrate for a few hours that your club’s flag will fly in the first few months. Sevilla wears derby uniforms for their big day.