[JaredL]

TSC,

Sevilla are certainly a notch below the big 2. They are also IMO a notch above Valencia. I certainly don't think Sevilla have a great chance to win the league, but stranger things have happened. As usual, I expect Sevilla to do well in cup competitions and don't think even a semifinal appearance in the CL is out of the question. Sevilla on their day can be virtually unbeatable and they've shown that by dominating bigger teams who have problems dealing with the pace and style. Sevilla isn't a huge dog against anybody in a home and home. They are a fair dog against the few top teams if they play the first leg at home, but a favorable draw could see them go far. I will be disappointed if they either bust next week after the 2-0 first leg or don't get through the group stage.

The issue in the league is consistency. Sevilla didn't do nearly well enough against the bottom teams, especially away. I'm not sure that it's the most important stat but Sevilla recorded 8 0-0 draws. One was to Villarreal who finished 5th, two were to Racing who finished 10th, and the rest were teams lower. They drew 0-0 at home to the team that finished bottom. For contrast Barcelona drew 0-0 one time and Real Madrid twice.

I may make a separate thread about it, but in the small bit of research I've done the result of matches with the lower teams is far more telling about how a team does than the teams at the top. This makes sense in theory as being the only win for a terrible team means that everyone else got more points than you did against them. In a sense there are more points available. Not sure how interested others would be in this sort of thing.