André Silva celebrates one of his goals against Real Madrid
Match reports

3-0: AND YET ANOTHER WIN AGAINST REAL MADRID

27/09/2018
After two big wins, Sevilla continued their great streak with a convincing defeat of Real Madrid at the Sánchez-Pizjuán. A brace from André Silva and another from Ben Yedder finished off Lopetegui's team, who had a goal rightfully ruled out by VAR. It was a night that will go down in history as one of Sevilla's great wins.

This is football. Last Thursday Sevilla faced Standard Liège under a lot of doubt, but seven days later all is well. Pablo Machín's team got the better of Real Madrid this Wednesday in a fantastic first half, with a brace from André Silva and another from Ben Yedder. In the second half, everything could have changed, but VAR rightfully ruled out a Real Madrid goal, the ship was steadied and Sevilla did not run into any significant trouble for the rest of the game. The schedule is certainly gruelling, but this Sevilla team are hungry and want more.

Sevilla started strongly and within 16 seconds André Silva forced Courtois to turn away his shot for a corner. It was a warning of what was to come for the Belgian goalkeeper in the first 45 minutes. Machín's team were not willing to waste any time and every time they had the ball they drove at the Madrid backline. For their part, Lopetegui's men tried to slow down the tempo of the game by playing more horizontally. Ben Yedder also tested the resilience of the Madrid goal with a header, but the next opportunity would be the one that counted. Marcelo lost the ball to Sarabia while trying to play out from the back, and in the blink of an eye the midfielder played the ball out to right for the overlapping Jesús Navas. The captain, in Antonio Puerta's minute (16'), squared the ball to André Silva in the six-yard box, who finished with aplomb.

Two surging runs from Jesús Navas allowed André Silva to put Sevilla in command midway through the first half.

This was the first blow that put Sevilla in command and they followed it up with a second just three minutes later. This time a counter-attack that started deep in their own half, almost in their own penalty area, Ben Yedder passed to Navas who carried the ball and got a shot away which Courtois parried as best as he could. It was not enough however as André Silva, arriving from deep, finished it off with a first time shot. The Ramón Sánchez-Pizjuán was in raptures as their team fought for every ball and pressed Real Madrid all over the pitch. Madrid did manage to get out once and Bale saw his shot strike the post, but in another good attack, Franco Vázquez struck the bar with a placed shot.

 

Machín's team were at ease in the opponent's half and Ben Yedder notched the third after reacting the quickest to a loose ball. There were five minutes left until the break, and Franco Vázquez headed on a clearance from Madrid. The Frenchman was much quicker than his marker, Sergio Ramos, and volleyed home the third past Courtois, who ended the half not needing to do much and still found himself three goals down at the break. The match required calmness from Sevilla, who started the second half well, but a shot from Modric could have made it 3-1, if it were not for VAR, which ruled him to be offside and ruled out the goal.

Madrid's initial second-half momentum was halted by the VAR review, and Sevilla responded with a great shot from Sarabia which Courtois acrobatically saved. André Silva had another great chance after, but Madrid managed to prevent the ball from going in. Moments before, Vaclík did what he does and saved spectacularly from a one-on-one against Bale. Madrid were having more chances, but they couldn't find the goal that would get them back into the game. Lopetegui brought on Lucas Vázquez and Mariano, and, just after he brought Ceballos on, Marcelo was forced off with an injury. This was a big blow for Madrid, who could have conceded even more if Franco Vázquez had managed to put away a chance ten minutes before the end. Machín knew the game was over and brought on Promes and Nolito to give his players a rest.

There were no tense moments in the dying moments, with the fans able to enjoy the magnificent victory. This is the third consecutive win in under seven days and leaves Sevilla in a promising situation, full of confidence and accuracy in their play. This makes it another year, four in a row now, that Real Madrid leave the Ramón Sánchez-Pizjuán empty-handed in La Liga. And may the run continue...