“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Sevilla hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Marked 8.51 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Marked 6.96 on 9 actions at both ends of the pitch. Midfielders like this get described as unspectacular by people who have never tried to play against one.
The 88th minute, half the ground already edging towards the exits, and Alfon decided nobody was going anywhere. Athletic Bilbao had no time left to answer.
A 1‑0 win over Athletic Bilbao, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Manu Bueno and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Successful dribbles: 15. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Diego Cruz kept it short after the 1‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
Shots: 10. Goals: none. The chances were there and they were good ones, and they went into the stand, the goalkeeper's arms and the side netting in roughly that order.
In brief
The dugoutGabriel Suazo asks for a word with the manager
The dugoutThe plan did not have a place for Marcão
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Sevilla, and it is not being withdrawn.
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
At 21 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Sevilla asked and Almería said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Isaac Romero. 2‑1 against Villarreal, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
11 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
The offer went to Porto this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
The deal with Almería is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Celta have kept their man, and Sevilla go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Álex Costa had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
7.98, 1 on the scoresheet, and the specific comedy of a back-four player celebrating like somebody who does this every week. He does not, and that is exactly why the ground reacted the way it did.
Three points for Sevilla, 3‑1 the final word against Osasuna in a contest settled by the finer margins.
The terraces31 Aug 2026
Sevilla supporters have found a favourite in Peque
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Peque has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
There is a particular helplessness in conceding 2 times before the twentieth minute. Osasuna tried to reorganise, Sevilla did not allow it, and the result was written long before it was confirmed.