Sunday, 25 November 2018

Sevilla go top of La Liga after narrow win over Real Valladolid


Seville (Spain) (AFP) – Sevilla moved back to the top of La Liga on Sunday as they capitalised on the stuttering form of their rivals by beating Real Valladolid 1-0. 

Real Madrid, Atletico Madrid and Barcelona all failed to win on Saturday as Real were beaten 3-0 by Eibar before Atletico and Barca played out a 1-1 draw at the Wanda Metropolitano. 

The way was open for Sevilla to take advantage and they made no mistake, Andre Silva continuing his excellent start to the season by heading in the winner at the Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan. 

They certainly rode their luck, twice needing VAR to deny Real Valladolid an equaliser, with the first cancellation particularly fortunate. Enes Unal´s strike was ruled out as the offside Toni Villa was deemed to be obstructing the goalkeeper´s view. 

Victory puts Sevilla one point above Barcelona at the summit, two clear of Atletico and six ahead of Real. 

After a slow start to the season, Pablo Machin´s side are now unbeaten in seven games in all competitions, while in the league, they have lost only once, to Barca, in their last nine. 

Real Valladolid, now owned by Ronaldo, the former Brazil striker, had been in excellent form too in recent weeks but three games without a win means they drop to 12th. 

Silva´s goal was his eighth of the season and relatively straightforward as he peeled away at the back post to head Pablo Sarabia´s cross in off the post. Sarabia had done well to make space with a sharp turn inside the box. 

La Real pushed hard for an equaliser in the second half and twice thought they had it. Unal, on as a substitute, rifled home on the hour but Villa, standing offside and close to the goalkeeper, was judged to be interfering with play. 

The second decision was more clear-cut, Unal firing in a rebound from close range but this time it was him that had strayed offside. 

Sevilla could have had a second, with Wissam Ben Yedder twice going close while Sarabia forced a strong save from Jordi Masip with a long-range drive. In the end, one was enough. 



from World Soccer Talk https://ift.tt/2THtiEF

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