Sevilla loses against Celta de Vigo and finds itself in an increasingly poor situation in Laliga
Celta doesn’t want to miss its chance to return to Europe and has shown no mercy to a Sevilla side that arrived at Balaídos needing points to stop flirting with relegation. They continue to do so, only relieved by the defeat at Las Palmas but hurt by not taking advantage of a golden opportunity, such as playing with one more man for the entire second half after Marcos Alonso was sent off just before halftime. They lost, in fact, 2-1, a tremendous result.
And Celta continues to dream, having started the day in the Conference and ending it in the Europa League , again ahead of Rayo Vallecano and making seven changes to the Bernabéu team. Within two minutes, Pablo Durán had already brought Balaídos to its feet with a header, but Sevilla quickly captured the playmaking with very high pressure.
Thus came the first warning from Andalusia, with a towering steal from Lukébakio, which ended with a Pedrosa shot that Guaita saved with his foot. From the corner, Ramón Martínez , a debutant in the Seville defense , almost scored his first goal, but he crossed it in for Guaita to make it 0-1 again.
Celta shook off the scare with a good through ball from Durán to Ilaix Moriba , who fired a shot that Nyland parried, but he couldn’t do the same a minute later, in the 19th minute, when he turned around with a superb technical gesture inside the area and crossed with his right foot to make it 1-0, inheriting a pass from Marcos Alonso and a run from Aspas.
Celta were very choral, incredibly agile in recovering and launching their forwards like bullets in the blink of an eye. But when it came to creating, in the 30th minute Celta showed how they could work from side to side for a full minute on the edge of the box, not risking crosses, which aren’t the team’s strong suit, but combining to the point of overwhelming Sevilla, who in the 32nd minute had Lukebakio’s loose long-ball shot as their greatest threat. The entire team was puny , battling like a titan with Pedrosa and Badé as key players in low crosses, or Ramón and Salas, but Lukébakio couldn’t reach them even by diving.
And at that point came the strange final sprint of the first half, with a poke in the eye from Badé that stopped the game several times, very annoying until he had to come off, a 5-minute stoppage for this reason and a penalty in the final minute by Marcos Alonso for clearly cutting off Peque’s oriented control , which ended with a controversial red card for the Celtarra full-back after a VAR review (it is understood that he deliberately cut off the attack, very open to interpretation), with Gudelj equalising and having to throw it twice in the 53rd minute, and a new game for the second half. A mess.
Second
Giráldez rebuilt the team after being reduced to ten men by Marcos’s expulsion, replacing Damián and Aspas with Fran Beltrán and Javi Rodríguez. In the first five minutes, a couple of somewhat forced falls in the Sevilla penalty area foreshadowed a heated second half that Celta dominated, both furious and dangerous.
Caparrós removed Pedrosa for Suso to provide a solid through ball that could have sealed the victory, and Sevilla regained control of the match after ten minutes, expanding the pitch and using a pair of shots from Gudelj from 30 meters as warnings. In the 63rd minute, Suso’s first Lamine Yamal-style pass arrived, but Peque narrowly missed.
But a stolen ball led to the unexpected 2-1: Fran Beltrán’s anticipation broke down the right, and although Durán didn’t reach the cross, Mingueza appeared at the far post and slotted home with his left foot. It wasn’t easy. He had to score, as there wasn’t much of an angle. A true stunner in the 65th minute.
Guaita took a very dangerous free kick from Suso, but it didn’t seem enough, with Lukébakio somewhat subdued, so another touch came from Caparrós, surprised by the furious local reaction: Peque was put on the bench and García-Pascual was on the pitch, while Giráldez did the opposite, reinforcing the defense with Ristic for Swedberg.
Sevilla pushed their lines higher and Celta redoubled their efforts to hold on for a perfect result, but lacking precision in their final passes, their creations, and the excitement of Ejuke in the final minutes, the Sevillians barely created any real danger beyond positional pressure until the 90th minute. Guaita’s double save, especially the first from Salas’ point-blank shot, was poster-worthy. It wasn’t Sevilla’s day, again.
And as is often the case in these situations, in the next round, Gudelj, who had been in excellent form throughout the match, made a poor pass to Nyland. Panda, who had been on the pitch for a short time, took advantage of the opportunity and nailed a superb chip shot to make it 3-1 in the 90th minute. Sevilla barely had time to score a shot on the final stroke, with Salas searching for him until the very end. At 10, it was 2-1 for Celta, who are firmly in Europe.
