Sports Burst: Sevilla - The People's Champions
Sevilla stand up to The Man by trying to take down Atletico, Real Madrid and Barcelona to win LaLiga
By Tim Stannard
A Monday win for Sevilla can begin a campaign of ultimate revenge on LaLiga's Super League terrible trio
While supporters of Manchester United took a more...direct...approach to protesting their club's involvement in the very short-lived European Super League debacle, Sevilla's players have a big chance of their to fight back today. Without the whole breaking and entering thing.
The current top three in LaLiga - Atletico Madrid, Real Madrid and Barcelona - all formed part of the breakaway twelve who wanted to pull the drawbridge up on clubs like Sevilla ever getting the chance to compete on a higher and more lucrative level. Real Madrid still want this to happen.
Well, the timing would be perfect now for Sevilla to go on to defeat all three of these teams and win LaLiga to make a heck of a populist point about fanciful notions such as meritocracy and generally not being knuckleheads.
The good news is that Sevilla can actually pull this off.
Sevilla are in action today in the weekend's last LaLiga game with a home match against Athletic Club. If that game is won, then Sevilla move to within three points off Atletico at the top of the table with four games to go. Next weekend, an eclipse-like event happens in LaLiga where Sevilla can easily win, and the three others can all...not win.
Barcelona are playing Atletico Madrid on Saturday in a match that could comfortably end up in a draw while the following day, Sevilla are at Real Madrid, a team that has to go another midweek 12 rounds with Chelsea. A victory there and a stalemate in the Camp Nou puts Sevilla into second, one point off Atletico Madrid with three games to go.
Game on.
Watch the People's Champions of LaLiga taking on The Man today with Sevilla vs. Athletic Club live on beIN SPORTS from 2:50PM ET / 11:50AM PT.
🚨 Breaking News 🚨
Valencia have hit the panic button and fired coach, Javi Gracia, with just four games to go until the end of the season. Valencia have had a stinker of a campaign and sit in 14th place in LaLiga, six points from the relegation zone.
Glazers feel pressure from Manchester United protesters
Staying on the theme of butting up against The Man, and soccer authorities are spending Monday working out when to reschedule the Manchester United vs. Liverpool Premier League match postponed from Sunday. However, Manchester United's owners have more long-term problems to deal with.
The cancellation of one of the biggest matches in the EPL calendar happened after fans invaded the Old Trafford stadium to protest both the European Super League and more generally, the ownership of the club through the Glazer family.
On Sunday's edition of the Soccer XTRA, former Manchester United goalkeeper, Gary Bailey, said that the scenes were a signal that "maybe it is time to sell and move on" for the Glazer family. The signing up for the Super League project was very much the tip of the iceberg for fans who have been unhappy with the club's American owners since Manchester United was bought out completely in 2015.
"They have underestimated the culture of European soccer," noted Gary Bailey and "this resentment has been building up."
The Locker Room will be revisiting Sunday's scenes from Old Trafford and asking if a line was crossed with the protests or if fan power must prevail. Tune in to the Locker Room live (and for FREE!!!) on beIN XTRA at 6PM ET / 3PM PT.
PSG face late wait on Mbappe for Man City match
The Champions League semifinal between Manchester City and PSG is just a day away and it is looking a little touch and go that Kylian Mbappe is going to be fit for the game. That certainly doesn't help the cause of PSG who are already 2-1 down in the tie, despite Neymar hitting a tasty pocket of form at the moment.
Mbappe missed PSG's win against Lens in Ligue 1 on Saturday due to a calf strain and was absent from the team's training session on Sunday. Although the French striker has been included in the traveling party to England, it looks like everyone is invited, even the suspended Idrissa Gueye.
At least a little bit of pressure was taken off PSG in Ligue 1 with Saturday's victory, however, a win for Lille means that the reigning champions are still a bit behind with just three matches left to catch-up. "If it is Lille or PSG, it is really wonderful to see it tight like this and we are going to enjoy these final matches,” declared Paul Pogba on the title race in France.
Catch a deep dive into the biggest games across the weekend on beIN SPORTS with Monday Night Soccer at 9:30PM ET / 6:30PM PT.