Sevilla won 2-1 in the derby played this Sunday at the Sánchez-Pizjuán and with this victory is consolidated as second in the classification to six points of the leader, Real Madrid, while Betis brakes dry in his great career after being overtaken by the ‘eternal rival’ in a first half in which he was overwhelmed with the two goals conceded. The eternal rivals planted themselves in this match lined up at the top of the table as second and third, respectively, and eager to remain firm in consolidating their Champions places, but they also agreed on the wear and tear that on Thursday meant overcoming with suffering the their Europa League qualifiers against Dinamo Zagreb and Zenit St Petersburg.
Lots of casualties
Sevilla coach Julen Lopetegui was unable to count on one of his central defenders, the Frenchman Jues Koundé, although he was able to do so with the Brazilian Diego Carlos, who was injured in the first half. of the European party and arrived in time for it. Betis coach Chilean Manuel Pellegrini, on the other hand, surprised with the title of his compatriot Claudio Bravo, who had been recovering from an injury for weeks but did not start as a starter. place Rui Silva, and in view of the absence by sanction of the goleador of the equipment, Juanmi Jiménez, in the line attacking green-and-white put Borja Iglesias accompanied by Cristian Tello by the left.
This was the third derby of the season, after the first round that Sevilla won (0-2) at Villamarín and the controversial round of 16 of the Copa del Rey on this same stage, which was awarded to the verd-i-blancs (2-1) a month and a half ago, after being marked by his suspension when Sevilla’s Joan Jordán was hit by a stick thrown from the stands. Betis came out ready to put high pressure on the rival, but Sevilla responded with a quick handling of the ball and in the minute and a half claimed a penalty from the Portuguese William Carvalho to Joan Jordán.
At four the Moroccan Youssef En-Nesyri was close to being left alone, at six Jesus Navas threw below tight to a post, a minute later it was again En-Nesyri who found the answer of Claudio Brevo and at ten the Mexican Jesús ‘Tecatito’ Corona ran into opposition from Marc Bartra. It was a spectacular start from Nervión that Heliopolis tried to balance after a quarter of an hour, but a great play by Tecatito on the right side, with a pass to Álex Moreno and a precise pass over En-Nesyri ended with Bravo’s penalty to the Moroccan. It was the Croatian Iván Rakitic who transformed it in 24 minutes to put the locals in front, although three later the Argentine Alejandro ‘Papu’ Gómez complained of a muscle disease, the already ‘classic’ for the Sevillans in each party, and had to be replaced by the Hispano-Moroccan Munir El Haddadi.
From here Sevilla slowed down a bit the pace of their game, but always with control of the situation, so it was precisely the freshman Munir who took advantage of a goal service from his compatriot Yassine Bonus to stand in front of Bravo and cross the ball without the Chilean managed to deflect it and prevent the 2-0 shortly before the break. A Betis unknown in the first half, surprised by the intensity of the rival, went to the locker room for Pellegrini to reconcile the situation and from the start of the restart took out Aitor Ruibal for William Carvalho and Joaquín Sánchez for the Frenchman Nabil Fekir , who retired at halftime with discomfort after an entry by Argentine Marcos Acuña. There was also another forced change for Lopetegui, as Diego Carlos suffered from his injury and was replaced by Serbian Nemanja Gudelj.
With this situation on the field, now the visitors did want to have more ball to find options to cut the score and shortly before the quarter of an hour of this period Bartra was in a good position to see goal, although the ball is deflected. Better that Tello had shortly after, but this time Bono put a great hand to deflect the ball to the corner, although it was another example in which it was seen that Betis was another against a much more contemplative Sevilla that he saw with the rival began to create real danger, like another action, that of Aitor Ruibal.
Late reaction
The match went to the final straight in this tone of the visiting team attacking and the local reserve an advantage that Betis was close to cutting in the eighty minutes, but now Álex Moreno failed after a pass of Héctor Bellerín. Betis’s insistence had its reward very late, in the fourth minute of extra time of the five that were awarded, so the great goal of Sergio Canales free kick was useless.
