Late drama as Sevilla holds Valencia

Valencia’s winless run against Sevilla extended to seven matches as the Rojiblancos scored late on to salvage a 1-1 draw on Tuesday evening in La Liga.

The visitors were much quicker out of the traps at the Ramón Sánchez Pizjuán Stadium and were well on top in the opening exchanges.

Their impressive start was rubber-stamped when Dimitri Foulquier’s cross into the area beat goalkeeper Bono, who had rushed off his line, and Edinson Cavani was on hand to head into an empty net from close range, making it 1-0 after only six minutes. 

The Uruguayan striker has now scored three goals in five games for Valencia in La Liga, one more than he did in 15 matches for Manchester United in the Premier League.

This early setback woke Sevilla up somewhat, and they came close to equalising on two occasions 10 minutes later. Firstly, Rafa Mir’s shot from distance was well saved by Giorgi Mamardashvili, and the keeper was alert again to push the Spanish forward’s header away to safety from the resulting corner.

Mir found the left corner in the early stages of the second half but saw the flag go up for offside to keep the score at 1-0. Sevilla were much improved after the break and twice came close to equalising through Nemanja Gudelj, who was denied by Mamardashvili before heading onto the bar.

In a frantic finale, Sevilla found a deserved equaliser when substitute Érik Lamela found the net from close range before Valencia were handed a golden opportunity to win it when Kike Salas gave away a penalty and was shown a straight red card. 

However, José Gayà had his spot-kick palmed away by Bono to ensure a share of the spoils. The result means that Sevilla moves to 11th while Valencia remains eighth in La Liga.

Daniel Ademiju Idowu