Jorge Sampaoli has made a lot of changes to his Sevilla team in his short period in charge so far, but he has also already made history with his side.
On Saturday, the Chilean manager fielded the first team in the history of La Liga to take to the field without a single Spanish player in the starting XI.
In the place of any Spanish players on the pitch were Gabriel Mercado, Matias Kranevitter, Angel Correa and Luciano Vietto of Argentina; Adil Rami, Timothée Kolodziejczak and Wissam Ben Yedder from France; Italian goalkeeper Salvatore Sirigu; Daniel Carrico of Portugal; Brazil's Paulo Henrique Ganso, and Hiroshi Kiyotake from Japan.
ONCE del #SevillaFC ante @SDEibar #EibarSevillaFC pic.twitter.com/YW0BZFedXe
— Sevilla Fútbol Club (@SevillaFC) September 17, 2016
However, Sampaoli did bring on a Spanish player with just 14 minutes of the match gone, as Sergio Escudero entered the fray to replace the injured Rami, while he also introduced two more Spaniards in the form of Vicente Iborra and Vitolo later in the game.
The move may have come as a result of a very busy fixture list, which saw them take on Juventus in Turin on Wednesday, Eibar on Saturday and they will also be facing local rivals Real Betis in a fiercely competitive derby on Tuesday.
With a new TV rights deal that will see more money than ever before entering La Liga as it continues to become a global brand, Sevilla may be the first team to field a side without Spanish players, but they may not be the last.
The game ended 1-1, Sevilla's second draw in a row after their 0-0 against Juventus, suggesting that their defense has somewhat tightened up since their opening game in La Liga, which ended 6-4.
However, Eibar themselves will also be looking at their lineup with a worried face in the wake of this match, given that, for the second week running, their goalkeeper was shown a red card. They also had Dani Garcia sent off, reducing them to nine men, but Sevilla were unable to make their advantage count.
Via Sport
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