Not a single shot between the three sticks. The proposal of Sevilla on his visit to Bilbao to measure himself against Athletic she had been extremely conservative. While the local team constantly attacked the rival area, those led by Jose Luis Mendilibar they patiently waited for even the slightest chance to get an opportunity near the other goal and attack when it came. And what if it came at the most dramatic moment of the match, in circumstances that even involved the Sevillian team.
The scoreboard showed that 89 minutes had elapsed in the game, and in the blink of an eye the development changed completely. unai simon tried to get out with a pass to Yeray Alvarez in his area, but the goalkeeper he hit the ball too hard and forced the defender into a desperate run for the ball with Lucas Ocampos. As if that were not enough, Álvarez slipped, and seeing that the Argentine was going to beat him easily, he had no other option than to stretch his leg and make him stumble, for which the referee Alejandro Hernández Hernández charged a penalty without hesitation.
The penalty that led to Lucas Ocampos’s goal for Sevilla
Of course, there was a strong dose of suspense in the decision, which was subject to a prolonged VAR check, but the play was finally validated, to the fury of the Athletic players. Ocampos was in charge of executing the shot in the second minute of discount, and very calmly he deceived Simón and gave the winning goal to Sevilla with his first shot between the three sticks of the entire match. The local team, which had already had two goals disallowed against Nico Williams (8) and Gorka Guruzeta (17) previously, tried to react in the rest of added time, but it was not enough to change the fate of the clash, and the Andalusians took three fundamental points.
Given the constant claims of the rivals for the key action, Ocampos was in charge of clarifying in post-match statements how the play that led to the penalty was: “We both arrived at the same time and I raised my leg a little. He touches the ball, but when I keep starting he drags my leg, so I think it was a penalty. I didn’t even see it, but I imagine it was a penalty, if he took it, “said the striker who emerged from River, who also praised his manager Mendilibar, who replaced Jorge Sampaoli and did not lose in seven games:”It is giving us more than anything peace of mind and confidence to each one who has to play, and it shows. The results are taking place and we want to continue in this way”.
The win moves Sevilla almost definitively out of the relegation zone, where they spent much of the season with Sampaoli and his predecessor Julen Lopetegui; eleventh march, 10 points above Getafe, the last occupant of the red posts. But it is also beginning to give rise to dreams of playing continental competitions next year, given that It is just five units behind Athletic itself, which today would enter the Conference League. There are still seven games to be played, and there is also another incentive: if Osasuna beats Real Madrid and wins the Copa del Rey, it will be the sixth and not the seventh who will go to this tournament. But for the moment, the illusion in Andalusia is to finish the course with a much higher prize than what they previously aspired to.
In addition, Villarreal, with Juan Foyth and Giovani Lo Celso as starters, they came from behind to beat Espanyol 4-2 and get closer to the Champions League positions, at the same time that they left the team in a critical situation parakeet. Valencia left the relegation zone by beating Valladolid 2-1 at the discount, and with that result indirectly put Getafe down, who fell 2-1 with Almería the day before and who on Thursday dismissed their coach Quique Sánchez Flores . Valladolid took the lead through the Canadian Cycle Larin; Mouctar Diakhaby, who had missed the rival goal, recovered and scored the equalizer in the second half with a good header (59) and youth player Javi Guerra made it 2-1 in injury time.
THE NATION
2023-04-27 23:03:00
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