MADRID, 9 Nov. (EUROPA PRESS) –
Real Sociedad left Sevilla in a delicate situation before the break for the Qatar World Cup after winning 1-2 at the Ramón Sánchez-Pizjuán against a rival who played many minutes inferior, while Quique Setién finally made his debut with Villarreal at the RCDE Stadium (0-1) and Almería were once again strong at home against Getafe (1-0), in matches corresponding to matchday 14 of LaLiga Santander played this Wednesday.
At the Ramón Sánchez-Pizjuán, the Sevilla fans suffered another disappointment in the form of a defeat that could mean that Sevilla ended up in relegation places before the break and very far from a ‘Champions zone’ in which Real Sociedad hopes to be, although he showed his face despite playing with nine men for many minutes.
Both teams measured their current bad moments and the ‘txuri-urdin’ came out of him against a rival who was punished by the VAR, which considered two actions in the first half by Ivan Rakitic and Tanguy Nianzou to be red, which reduced his attempt comeback in an electric game, especially in its first half.
Imanol Alguacil’s men took the lead 11 against 11 through Alexander Sorloth, who defined a good pass from Mikel Merino with quality. Isco Alarcón was able to equalize shortly after, but ran into Alex Remiro’s sensational response, and then came the local expulsions, and Brais Méndez’s 0-2.
However, Sevilla did not want to give up and a great header from Rafa Mir allowed them to close the gap before the break and give them options for a second half where the visitors bet more on controlling the game with the ball and Sampaoli’s men tried to hold on.
The best chances in the second 45 minutes were for Real, who had good chances to sentence with Sorloth and two shots from Kubo. Sevilla had a harder time being able to deploy due to the physical effort, but they enjoyed a very good one in the power of En-Nesyri to have tied. Bono gave one more life in a one-on-one with Pablo Marín, but the Sevilla team could not work the miracle.
For his part, at the RCDE Stadium, Quique Setién got some fresh air as Villarreal coach by getting his first victory in charge after beating Espanyol 0-1 thanks to a carom goal from Espanyol goalkeeper Benjamin Lecomte and after a clash with alternatives and in which his team ended up locked up.
The Cantabrian coach, whose position is in doubt, put an end to a streak of four games without winning and did so with suffering, especially at the end and after having controlled a good part of the match, much more animated in the second than in the first half where Yéremi Pino had the best for the visitors, and Javi Puado and Sergi Darder enjoyed two good ones for the locals.
On the other hand, after the break, the game opened up much more towards the two areas and it was the ‘Yellow Submarine’ that most threatened with two shots from Etienne Capoue, Dani Parejo and Samu Chukwuece, although Diego Martínez’s men also replied with a from Puado and, above all, a very clear one from Keide Bare who crashed his close shot into Rulli.
In the end, the team from Castellón found the winning goal in a somewhat lucky play. Pino hit the post and the ball reached Alberto Moreno whose pass met Lecomte’s leg as he tried to get back into position and ended up sending it into the back of the net.
The goal increased Espanyol’s intensity, which was far superior in the final stretch of the clash and caused Rulli to emerge as the savior of his team along with Alex Baena who took a ball under the sticks. With this victory, Villarreal has 21 points and stays close to the ‘Champions zone’, while Espanyol, with 12, could fall into relegation at the end of the day.
Finally, UD Almería once again became stronger at the Power Horse Stadium and added their fourth consecutive victory at home by beating Getafe by a tight 1-0, managing to end with a smile before the time for reflection, while the team from Quique Sánchez Flores are close to relegation.
It was a very tight match and where the ‘azulón’ team once again showed their problems at an offensive level if the Turkish Enes Unal is well controlled. Rubi’s men were solid and made the most of a corner kick headed by Leo Baptistao that rewarded their greatest initiative.
In the second half, Getafe tried it without much success and Almería was the one that threatened the most. But he did not make it 0-2 and his rival was close to equalizing in added time with a shot from Juan Iglesias at the post.
