Sevilla FC's Sergi Gómez against Villarreal

First team

SERGI GÓMEZ IS THE PLAYER WITH THE MOST MINUTES ON THE PITCH IN THE SQUAD

17/11/2018

The centre-back, who arrived from RC Celta in the summer, has only missed two matches in the qualifying rounds of the Europa League against Újpest and Žalgiris, the first-leg of the cup against Villanovense and the final half-an-hour in Akhisar

He joined the Sevilla rearguard flying slightly under the radar, but the numbers do not lie and they show that he has become an important player for Pablo Machín. With a back-three that the manager has employed and the complications in the form of injuries from the beginning, the availability of Sergi Gómez at all times has become a key piece in the jigsaw, to the point that, except for the goalkeeper Tomas Vaclík, the Catalan is the player who has played the most minutes up to now.

In fact, he has only missed three full matches and the last half-an-hour of the other 24 competitive matches contested so far by Sevilla. He was not there when the season kicked off, at home against Újpest from Hungary. Although he was registered in time for the second qualifying round of the Europa League in time, his lack of training time with the team lead to machín not fielding him, but in the second leg in Budapest, he played the full 90 minutes. In the following round, against the Lithuanian side Zalgiris, he was an unused substitute in the first-leg in Nervión.

Since the match against Zalgiris in Lithuania, he played 17 consecutvie matches until he was rested in Villanueva de la Serena

Since then, Sergi played the full 90 minutes for an incredible 17 official matches in a row. Since the second-leg in Lithuania he played without rest, 6 matches in the UEFA Europa League, the ten first matches in La Liga and the Spanish Supercup match in Tangier against FC Barcelona. A streak that ended, fortunately, because he was given a rest, in the cup match in Villanueva de la Serena, a match for which he was called up for but remained on the bench. After that, in November, he has played two other matches in La Liga and the first 56 minutes in Akhisar, until he saw a second yellow card.

As a result, he will not be able to be in Liège to face Standard, but he will hope to continue his streak of appearances in the league, where he has already accumulated 1,080 minutes, and 1,785 when you include the other three competitions.