After winning against Valencia, Sevilla continued to impress and moved up to second in La Liga. However, it was not easy as the visitors played with a high press and constantly caused problems.
Poor from both sides in the opening 45
In what was a very poor first half from both sides, the match saw Sevilla and Valencia frequently give away the ball and cause problems for themselves.
Two poor passes from Adil Rami meant Nani and Dani Parejo had chances to score, but they could not punish the home side.
The first real chance of the game came in the third minute when Pablo Sarabia controlled the ball beautifully and cut in on his left foot, but his shot could only go wide.
The visitors first chance came 10 minutes after. Former Valencia player Adil Rami passed the ball straight to Nani, who elected to shoot on the edge of the box instead of pass and his shot sailed well over the cross bar.
The best chance of the first half fell to Franco Vazquez, who was on his stronger foot, he bent his shot just wide. The Italian was clearly aiming for the top corner and had he pulled it off, it would have ended up as a goal of the season contender.
Just after the half hour mark, another poor pass from Rami put Parejo through on goal, but a poor first touch meant he could not get a shot on goal.
Goals galore in the second half
Into the second half and Sevilla took the lead in the 53rd minute, Vitolo was the architect, firstly cutting onto his left foot, the Spanish international produced a fine cross which hit Valencia defender Ezequiel Garay and ended up going into his own goal.
Minutes later, Parejo almost produced a moment of magic. A freekick from 40 yards out was unintentionally over hit and the ball was going into to the top corner, but Sevilla goalkeeper Sergio Rico was equal to it, tipping it over the cross bar.
Rodrigo then had a golden chance to equalise, after being put behind the defence by Parejo, the former Bolton Wanderers player could only skew his shot wide.
Super sub Munir who had only been on the field for a matter of minutes, levelled the game up, a wonderful pass from full-back Joao Cancelo was poked in by the on-loan Barcelona striker.
10 minutes later, Sevilla retook the lead, a corner wasn’t dealt with properly by Eliaquim Mangala, the ball fell to Pareja and his scuffed shot from the edge of the box squeezed in off the post.
Los Che struggled to create many chances after that until deep into stoppage time. Another lofted Parejo freekick fell kindly to Jose Gaya, whose thunderous volley was miraculously saved by Rico.
A truly match winning save meant his side moved up to second position in the La Liga Santander table, as for Cesare Prandelli’s side, they sit in 16th position, only two points off the relegation places.
Next up for Jorge Sampaoli’s men is a trip to bottom side Granada, and for Valencia, they take on Malaga at home.