He Sevilla of Matias Almeyda It has its own seal. An aggressive, direct style, extremely supportive on the field, chameleonic from the rival he faces and very little friend of handling the ball, without this being incompatible with good football. everything … contrary. Sevilla is an author team that drinks from multiple sources, the best or what it believes is most appropriate from each one, to achieve engage an audience of defined taste who, after a long time, once again outlines that knowing smile that identifies him with his own. The results appear in Nervión from a game system based on space, man-marking (annoying at times) and quick transitions, taking advantage in this sense of a very specific profile of footballers whom Almeyda pushes towards their best version.
The influences of the coach born in Azul 51 years ago are diverse and heterogeneous. Almeyda himself assures that, both in his time as a player and as a coach, he has been absorbing concepts from numerous strategists to form his script, within a constant and meticulous training process that remains valid in everything he does. The Sevilla coach is a passionate student of football, who not only focuses on the blackboard and a exuberant physical preparationbut also dedicates his work to the footballer’s psyche, the driving force behind everything else. Almeyda’s references range from his contemporary Of Zerbi to his friend Diego Pablo Simeoneunquestionably passing through the professor Bielsa or two historical ones from the eighties and nineties like Arrigo Sacchi y Sven-Göran Erikssonwhom he had as a player. Almeyda also recognizes that he is immersed in colleagues with whom he has never met, but whose methods he admits to studying in depth because they are “the best”: Luis Enrique, Guardiola and Antonio Contecurrently coaches of PSG, Manchester City and Naples, respectively.
«It is not about copying a specific style; I have kept the good things about them, knowledge that I have tried to deepen, turn them around, see how I can express them and put them into practice,” Almeyda explained before starting LaLiga with Sevilla FC. There is a strong, very direct link with the ‘Cholo’ Simeonesoul of Atlético de Madrid. Almeyda admires his passion and love for football, his tactical strength, and above all his ability to ‘perpetuate’ Atlético over time as a winning club and make it his home. He dreams of emulating something similar at Sevilla FC. In Simeone’s beginnings as a coach, Cholo He called Matías Almeyda to be part of his staffbut the one in Blue understood that it was not yet the time to move to the bench and assume that role. They know each other as brothers. They lived through everything together. They were roommates for almost a decade on the Argentine team.
Almeyda, since his youth as a player, was able to train with a select group of highly prestigious Argentine coaches such as Pasarella, Gallego or Sabella. He learned from all of them. But perhaps the one who marked a plus in the conception of his football, due to the game system and the training methodology, was undoubtedly Marcelo Bielsa. The intensity with which this Sevilla de Almeyda performs and many features of his game are reminiscent of the style of ‘Loco’, current Uruguay coach. Bielsa amazed with his famous “murderball”, a form of training based on small, high-intensity matches, without interruptions, forcing the footballer to maintain high concentration, speed of decision and continuous physical effort, without pauses or downtime. A very tough test in which each player follows his mark in a “football without rules.” In the Sevilla’s win over Barcelona (4-1), Many of these lines were seen. Almeyda’s men strangled the Barça game from its very genesis. The Sevilla coach put three very physical midfielders in the middle, Mendy, Agoumé and Sow, who completely dismantled the engine room of Pedri and De Jong, with and without the ball. It was a marvelous display by the entire team. There is undoubtedly their share of success in the demanding methods that Almeyda’s physical trainer has been implementing since the summer, Guido Bonini. Hard and progressive work that is beginning to bear fruit in Nervión. Of Bielsa, Almeyda also highlights “an oratory that captivates the footballer.”
“The best in the world”
Despite everything, the Sevilla coach does not prioritize the athlete. Football, always ahead. In fact, and it is striking, The best coach in the world for Matías Almeyda is currently Roberto De Zerbi, 46 years oldfive less than him. Almeyda confesses to being a total admirer of his methods, always seeking results from attractive football, and assures that he has been studying it for a long time. The Italian rose to fame by squeezing a surprising Sassuolo in Serie A. He now leads Marseille, who is second in France, one point behind PSG. There are differences in style, many of them noticeable. But there is no doubt that this Sevilla looks in the mirror of De Zerbi in notions such as the generation of spaces for vertical and quick attacks, the importance of the double pivot or the use of the aforementioned “third man” to seek superiority in the rival field, all under a philosophy of enjoying the game.
“When I play against him, he touched me three times, and I tie him or beat him, I feel very happy,” Almeyda revealed this summer, days after drawing 1-1 with Sevilla against the Marseilles in a Vélodrome with more than 60,000 spectators in the stands and figures of the stature of Adrien Rabiot, Jonathan Rowe, Hojbjerg and Mason Greenwood on the field. The Nervionenses attended the friendly in full construction, plagued by casualties and without signings. “We suffered a lot against Sevilla and we didn’t create enough chances,” De Zerbi analyzed after the duel, highlighting the level that this Sevilla team was beginning to show. Previously, they had met twice, in the group stage of the 2023-24 Europa League, with the Argentine coach of AEK Athens and the Italian coach of Brighton. In Greece De Zerbi won (0-1) and in England Almeyda won (2-3).
The psychological, group aspect, the famous roasts, the person over the footballer… are also key facets that the Sevilla coach focuses on so that his work can be complete. There it is nourished by the extraordinary reference of the remembered Sven-Göran Erikssonwho led him in Lazio in his splendor as a footballer: «I had 25 guys who played in national teams and we were all happy. We won six titles and we never did, for example, a pressure exercise. “He was a talent for uniting the group,” Almeyda remembers about the Swede.
