MADRID: Sevilla may be Real Madrid’s most likely challengers in La Liga this season and they have a chance to prove it on Saturday when they face the defending champions Atletico Madrid. Atletico’s defeat last weekend in the Madrid derby leaves them 13 points off the top but Sevilla in second are at least slightly closer, sitting eight points behind the leaders with a game in hand. Neither side can afford to be cast further adrift at the Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan especially as even a Covid-depleted Real Madrid will be expected to win again at home to Cadiz on Sunday. Sevilla’s lofty position is no fluke after they pushed Atletico, Real Madrid and Barcelona hard for the title last season, only to fall away with five games to go. They also won the Europa League in 2020 under Julen Lopetegui, who is now targeting a third consecutive top-four finish, which would be a first for the club in more than half a century. The question though is whether Sevilla can now take the next step and start beating the best teams to the biggest trophies. In the Champions League, they have already been found wanting, after finishing third in a group they might have been expected to win. Instead, one victory in six matches against Lille, Salzburg and Wolfsburg meant they failed to make the last 16. The result is a return to the Europa League, where they will be among the favourites to regain the trophy they lifted 18 months ago. But a more accurate gauge of progress will come in La Liga, where they have a realistic chance, if not of overhauling Real Madrid, of being their main rivals in the second half of the season. Madrid’s reliance on a narrow core of players, not to mention their own focus on the Champions League, could even offer their closest challengers hope in the coming weeks. To be in contention, Sevilla will have to find a breakthrough against the leading lights in the division, against whom they have traditionally struggled. Last season, they won only one of their six league games against the top three and this season, they have already lost to Real Madrid, with Atletico to come on Saturday and Barcelona next week. And while Sevilla currently boast the best defence in La Liga, having conceded just 11 goals from their opening 16 games, doubts remain about their potency in attack.