Real Madrid failed to take advantage of Barcelona’s loss at Leganes by suffering a defeat of their own, as Andre Silva’s brace led Sevilla to a 3-0 win over Los Blancos on Wednesday night at the Estadio Sanchez Pizjuan in Sevilla.
It was by far Real’s poorest effort of the season, but plenty of credit is due to Sevilla. Midfielder Ever Banega delivered an impeccable performance, orchestrating a symphony in the middle of the pitch and rendering Casemiroineffective.
The Andalusians were also boosted by Jesus Navas, whose speed on the right wing riddled the Real defense. Then there was Andre Silva with two excellent strikes, along with a strong finish from Wissam Ben Yedder, that led to Sevilla’s 90 minutes of dreamland.
As for Real, nothing went right on a night in which the defence never seemed to be organised and the attack never found their rhythm, which is bad timing for manager Julen Lopetegui, whose side face Atletico in the Madrid derby on Saturday..
Wednesday saw a return to the BBA, with Marco Asensio, Karim Benzema and Gareth Bale up top, while Nacho was slotted in at right-back for the injured Dani Carvajal, making Alvaro Odriozola’s absence even more curious. Also of note was the presence of highly-touted youngster Vinicius Junior on the bench.
Sevilla were on the attack from the start and broke things open thanks to a lazy pass from Marcelo, which led to a break and Navas swinging a perfect pull-back pass for the charging Silva, who one-timed in past the helpless Thibaut Courtoisfor a 1-0 Sevilla lead.
If that fired up the Sanchez Pizjuan, then what happened minutes later had the Sevilla stadium rocking. A Real corner kick led to a Sevilla counter-attack with Navas flying down the right and bearing down on Courtois. The former Manchester City man had a go at goal, but Courtois parried the ball right into the path of Silva, who coolly finished to make it 2-0 to Sevilla.
Real were reeling, and outside of a low-driven Bale effort that stung the post, there was little from Los Blancos. It was Sevilla who continued to have the better of play against an out-of-sorts Real defence, and Mudo Vazquez was quite unlucky to not have made it three when his shot hit the crossbar.
There was more misery to come for Real, as a Sevilla corner kick eventually ended with an unmarked Ben Yedder beating the offside trap and latching onto a long, looping header for a 3-0 Sevilla advantage.
Real looked better after half-time and thought they had pulled one back early in the half through Luka Modric, but VAR ruled that the newly-crowned The Best winner was a foot offside when he received a pass from Asensio before scoring.
Lopetegui went to the bench just shy of the hour mark, unsurprisingly going aggressive with Lucas Vazquez on for Nacho and the lustily jeered Mariano for Benzema. Still, there was no way through and Bale’s inability to finish past Sevilla goalkeeper Vaclik when played in all alone summed up Los Blancos’frustration.
Whistles also rained down on former Betis man Dani Ceballos when he became Lopetegui’s third change, but more worrying was Marcelo pulling up with some sort of leg strain leaving Real to play a man down for the final quarter-hour.
By then the white flag had been raised and Sevilla comfortably saw things outto hand Real their first league defeat of the season.
– Match Details:
3.- Sevilla: Vaclik; Carrico, Kjaer, Sergi Gomez; Navas, Banega (Roque Mesa, min. 91), Arana (Nolito, min. 85), Sarabia, Franco Vazquez; Andre Silva, Ben Yedder (Promes, min. 69).
0.- Real Madrid: Courtois; Nacho (Lucas Vazquez, min. 59), Varane, Ramos, Marcelo; Modric (Dani Ceballos, min. 70), Casemiro, Kroos; Asensio, Benzema (Mariano, min. 59), Bale
Goals: 1-0, min. 17: Andre Silva; 2-0, min. 22: Andre Silva; 3-0, min. 39: Ben Yedder
Referee: Hernandez Hernandez (Canarias).
Yellow Cards: Bale (Min. 27) for Real Madrid, Mudo Vazquez (Min. 34) for Sevilla, Kroos (Min. 65) for Real Madrid, Modric (Min. 65) for Real Madrid, Banega (Min. 74) for Sevilla, Sarabia (Min. 78) for Sevilla
Stadium: Sanchez Pizjuan
Attendance: 40.972
