The Argentine has only missed 8 games in two seasons, it is the second with the most meetings and the third with the most minutes with Lopetegui.
Sevilla are going to lose Lucas Ocampos during several games. The club announced that Djené’s hard entry into the game against Getafe did not break any bones but he is waiting to have his ligaments tested to determine how many games he will miss.
Except for a miracle, the Argentine will be off the pitch for a few weeks, and Julen Lopetegui faces an almost unknown situation. The Argentine is the third player who has played the most minutes since the arrival of the Basque coach to the Sánchez-Pizjuán bench with 5868 minutes, only Jesús Navas and Diego Carlos surpass him, and he is the second who has participated in more games with 75 and only 78 of Joan Jordán surpasses him.
Ocampos has only missed 12 games in almost two seasons with Sevilla yy the numbers without him speak well of his importance in the team. The only “5” has not played this season against Linares and Valencia in the Copa el Rey, two games that were resolved with victory against rivals who did not present much opposition. The same happened last year in the group stage of the Europa League, the former River Plate rested in the first four days of the group stage but Sevilla had no problems to carry out their matches against Qarabag, APOEL or Dudelange.
The Ocamposdependencia and the options to supply it
However, the winger has played all LaLiga matches this season and last season he only did not play in five regular championship matches and the results were much more negative. Of those five games without Ocampos, Sevilla only won one against Leganés with much suffering and with a solitary goal by Diego Carlos, he drew against Celta and Osasuna and lost against Villarreal and Real Madrid.
Needless to say, Sevilla loses one of its offensive props at a decisive moment just before the Copa del Rey semifinals against Barcelona and the round of 16 against Borussia Dortmund in the UEFA Champions League. In fact, in the KO tournament he was already decisive, scoring the goals that qualified Sevilla against Leganés. Further, the Argentine is Sevilla’s top scorer in the Lopetegui era with 24 goals and 9 assists in 75 games. In addition, the Nervión team loses its specialist on penalties, a luck where he has not yet failed any of the 10 shots he has taken.
Now, Lopetegui is looking for alternatives to supply it. The most obvious is going to be the one he opted for against Getafe, such as the include Papu Gómez on the left wing although the Argentine has a tendency to fall to the center and occupy the position of playmaker. Munir, who has rejoined the team and already scored against the azulones, He is also used to starting from the left-handed lane, where football coincidences only a few days ago Idrissi left in search of minutes that now he could have had in Nervión. If you doubt, playing without Ocampos will be a new challenge for Sevilla from a Lopetegui who has already shown that he knows how to overcome all adversities.
