Sivera, the guardian of a house of cards
Two penalty saves and four clean sheets are holding up an Alavés side that has not won since September.
Even goalless draws can hold small flashes from players who leave a mark. Sometimes we find unsung defenders who keep their side's clean sheet and never get the credit they deserve, their performances forgotten simply because of the label the result puts on them. And the truth is that the label is one of the strongest arguments that, on that night, the player in question was outstanding.
This Friday, Antonio Sivera not only kept his den sealed shut, he also saved a penalty that would have tipped the scales towards Sevilla. Alavés are not quite firing: they took ten of the first twelve points and, since that last win, have gone eight matchdays without collecting three at a time. Despite a run many would call insufficient, survival is no new challenge for the Babazorros. Last season Alavés and Sevilla finished level on 43 points, just one above the relegation zone. That is why a draw against a direct rival in that fight is more than a find.
Antonio Sivera has become the protagonist of the season: despite the team's poor run, he has now kept his fourth clean sheet. At this stage, few of his fellow goalkeepers can better that figure: in LaLiga, only Oblak (six), Radu, Valles and Unai Simón (five).
His merit is all the greater because he is guarding a house of cards. Alavés live without the ball, with 41% possession, the second lowest in LaLiga, only above Getafe, and they struggle to reach the opposition box: they sit in the league's 5th percentile for possession and the 32nd for getting into the box. At the back, on the other hand, they give little away: 1.37 expected goals (xG) per game, and only five teams face fewer shots. They have conceded 17 goals from 16.4 xG against, but six came on a single night, the 6-1 at the Camp Nou. Without it, 11 goals from 13.2 xG: fewer than expected.
Two penalties saved in 12 matchdays: no other goalkeeper in LaLiga has saved more than one
And when the house of cards wobbles, he appears. At San Mamés, facing 1.62 expected goals, he made six saves and stopped a penalty from Oihan Sancet: according to API-Football, he prevented almost a goal (0.98), his best night of the season. Until then, all 25 penalties taken against him in the top flight had ended in a goal. With Rubén Vargas's, that makes two this season, more than any other goalkeeper in LaLiga.
His Big Data Rating is 45, and it captures exactly what kind of goalkeeper he is. Against the goalkeepers of the 37 leagues we analyse, he is in the 93rd percentile for penalties and the 73rd for clean sheets, but the 44th for shot-stopping and the 20th for distribution. He is not a goalkeeper of saves in bulk. He is the one for the nights that count.
Eduardo Galeano wrote in Football in Sun and Shadow that "the goalkeeper is always to blame. And if he isn't, he pays anyway". In Seville, Ángel Pérez gave away the penalty and the bill came, as always, to the goalkeeper. This time, Sivera didn't pay.
Data: API-Football, LaLiga 2026/27 up to 06/11/2026, including Sevilla-Alavés; 2025/26 table from API-Football. Expected goals (xG) and goals prevented from API-Football. Big Data Rating and percentiles for each measure against the goalkeepers of the 37 leagues we analyse; team percentiles against LaLiga. Sample: 1,080 minutes.
