Sevilla beat Turkish Fenerbahçe 2-0 this Thursday in the first leg of the Europa League round of 16 played at the Ramón Sánchez-Pizjuán stadium, where they reacted in the second half with goals from Joan Jordán and the Argentine Erik Lamela , two players who left in that period, in which the locals were better to take andsa advantage for next Thursday’s return in Istanbul.
The duel started even, although it was uneven in favor of the Turks for the serious problems behind the Spanish team before the speed of the visiting attackers, who warned up to three times in the first quarter of an hour with a shot from Kadioglu that Dmitrovic cleared, a cross from the Portuguese Crespo that the Serbian goalkeeper took Valencia’s head off and a distant attempt from the Ecuadorian , seeing the forward goalkeeper, who narrowly went wide.
The Turkish team dominated in arrivals and occasions, such as in a one-on-one that Dmitrovic took from King after a pass from Valencia. Sevilla never had control and only touched the goal in a free-kick from the Croatian Rakitic who poisoned himself and Altay saved in the middle of the first half, in which Fenerbahçe was able to score just before the break, but King, alone, headed over the crossbar.
At the restart, with the entry of Jordán for Telles -who had a card- and Fernando now as a centre-back, Sevilla came out with more rhythm and created more problems for their rival, which resulted in two good options in a row for En-Nesyri, that narrowly missed a cross by Navas that Akaydin deflected, and Nianzou, but his header was cleared well by Altay.
This new face of the sevillistas after passing through the changing rooms soon paid off, when Jordán scored 1-0 with a strong shot from the edge of the area who played in the Brazilian Willian Arao and misled his goalkeeper. The goal further reassured a Sevilla that, with very dynamic Navas, Acuña or Bryan Gil, was imposing itself on a now more lost Fernerbahçe.
Jorge Jesus made a move, giving entry to Uruguayan winger Rossi for Crespo and striker Batshuayi for King. The Istanbul team tried to react, but again ran into a great Dmitrovic, who, halfway through this half, prevented the goal in two almost successive actions by Valencia and then he cut off a dangerous pass into the box coming out at Rossi’s feet.
Sevilla, who refreshed their attack with Argentine wingers Lucas Ocampos and Erik Lamela, made inaccuracies, but in this second half they had more solidity and depth. In the absence of five minutes of the 90 regulations, he also took advantage of a mistake by a Fenerbahçe somewhat deranged by the rush to score 2-0 through Lamelaafter an action in the area and a good pass from Rakitic, and acquire a clearer advantage for the second leg in Istanbul.
