1-2: CELTA FIGHTBACK INFLICTS PAINFUL DEFEAT

 The first Sunday lunchtime kick-off at the Ramón Sánchez-Pizjuán this season started sunny but soon turned grey as we surrendered our lead to lose 2-1 to Celta de Vigo in their former B-team manager Claudio Giráldez’s first game in charge.

Looking to capitalise on a ‘new-manager bounce, the visitors started brightly as their revitalised forward line with Jonathan Bamba moving from the left into a more central position and testing Ørjan Nyland on a couple of occasions. The backline was called into action early on and Jesús Navas intervened with an important clearance to deny the away side a shot from close range and contain their early threat.

Our first chance came when Óliver Torres intercepted the ball in midfield and drove forward before squaring it to Isaac. Whose effort deflected wide. The resulting corner was met by the head of Youssef En-Nesyri, but his effort grazed over the bar. However just a few minutes later, Somewhat, against the run of play, having only had 25% of possession, the deadlock was broken when Lucas Ocampos picked out En-Nesyri with a brilliant long-range ball just past the halfway. The Moroccan had to wrestle past the defender then found himself through on goal and slotted it past Vicente Guaíta into the bottom-left-hand corner of the goal.

There was a penalty shout soon after as En-Nesyri looked as if he might have been fouled on the edge of the penalty box, but a VAR check agreed with the referee and play continued. In the final fifteen minutes of the half, Celta regained their poise and the ball spent the majority of the remaining period around our penalty area. This culminated in a couple of close calls, firstly when Iago Aspas sent through Strand Larsen, but Nyland again blocked his shot from close range. Shortly afterwards, Sotelo released a shot that went just wide to the right of our goal as we made it safely to the break.

Celta again started off strong after the restart and had the better share of chances in the early stages of the half. Ten minutes in, Strand-Larsen broke forward after latching onto a brilliant lobbed through ball, but Nyland came to the rescue. We managed to shift momentum for the next fifteen minutes. Isaac Romero picked up the ball inside the box when Carlos Domínquez #28 gave away possession, but his subsequent went across the goal and just wide of the left-hand post. Two minutes later, on the other side of the pitch Isaac again created danger when he broke forward on the left wing and charged forward, took a shot which was deflected away and fell to Ocampos, who sent the ball over the bar.

A lack of clinical edge in this period of dominant possession was punished, with just under 20 minutes to play. After substitute Lukebakio came close to scoring, Celta launched a counterattack, with a long ball sent up to the Carles Pérez. Having come on midway through the first half, he made his mark by cutting inside and burying a shot from outside the box across the goal into the top right-hand corner.

Within 10 minutes, after growing back into the game following their equaliser, Celta struck another damning blow. A cross from near the left corner flag found Strand Larsen just in front of Nyland, who poked the ball in at the near post to put his side ahead. 

As we searched for an answer, another penalty shout with ten minutes to go as Lukebakio went down in the box after feeling contact from the defender. This time the referee gave the penalty, but VAR advised otherwise, and the decision was overturned. We couldn’t muster up enough energy to find a response and defeat means we find ourselves not quite out of the woods towards the bottom of the table as Celta leap to within two points. The squad will now have two weeks to prepare for Getafe amid the international break, as we look to repeat our win at the Coliseum in the Copa del Rey in January.  

MATCH DETAILS

1. SEVILLA FC: Nyland, Jesús Navas, Gudelj (Pedrosa, 74'), Sergio Ramos, Kike Salas, Acuña (Lamela, 88'), Soumaré, Óliver Torres (Jordán, 74'), Ocampos (Suso, 60'), Isaac and En-Nesyri (Lukebakio, 60')

2. RC CELTA:  Guaita, Mingueza, Manquillo (Carles Pérez, 27'), Núñez (Cervi, 75'), Domínguez (Jailson, 67'), Hugo Álvarez (Damián Rodríguez, 75', Fran Beltrán, Sotelo (Starfelt, 67'), Bamba, Aspas and Larsen.

GOALS: 1-0 En-Nesyri, 18'. 1-1 Carles Pérez, 71'. Larsen, 77'.

REFEREE: Hernández Maeso. Yellow cards for Sergio Ramos, Acuña, Jesús Navas and Soumaré.