Wednesday, May 12, 2021 at 8:59 PM• Daniel Cabot Kerkdijk • Last update: 21:03

Sevilla remains an outsider in the battle for the national title in Spain. Julen Lopetegui’s team was too strong for Valencia on Wednesday with a minimal difference, which was good news for the South Spaniards after the defeat against Athletic Club (0-1) and the late draw against Real Madrid (2-2). Youssef En-Nesyri scored the lone goal and is now the player who scored the most opening goals in LaLiga this season: ten. Because of the victory, Sevilla is currently narrowing the gap with Atlético Madrid, Barcelona and Real Madrid.

After the first 45 minutes, Sevilla and Valencia had literally and figuratively made little progress: a half time score of 0-0 and the number of chances in the first half could be counted on one hand. Most of it was for the account of Suso, who fired several times with live ammunition, or was created by the unbridled ambition of Youssef En-Nesyri. Valencia was mainly to blame for themselves, as they played with nine to ten men behind the ball against a Sevilla that dominated and had more than sixty percent, but too often opted for a shot from a distance.

On the edge of ??
Youssef En-Nesyri gives Sevilla a 1-0 lead ??#ZiggoSport #LaLiga #SevillaFCValencia pic.twitter.com/1gbEqbsfFW

– Ziggo Sport Football (@ZS_Voetbal) May 12, 2021

After fifteen minutes of play, a bet by En-Nesyri ended in the side net and a few minutes later a goal by Suso was disallowed for offside. Not much later, Jasper Cillessen prevented Suso from taking revenge. The tastemaker outsmarted Toni Lato and Carlos Soler, but the Dutchman turned his bet. Three minutes before the break Suso found Cillessen again with a powerful shot. The Dutchman already had an answer to a cannonball from Nemanja Gudelj.

In the second half there was initially talk of a different Valencia, but also a different Seville. Gonçalo Guedes in particular played a large part in this: the defense of Sevilla had some difficulty with the fast attacker. Lopetegui intervened after an hour of play and brought in Alejandro Papu Gómez, Marcos Acuña and Fernando on the lines. Sevilla recovered and took the lead after 66 minutes of play. According to the VAR, En-Nesyri was not offside after a through ball from Fernando and shot from close range.

In the remainder of the second half, Sevilla had little trouble keeping the lead intact. Lopetegui’s substitutions had an effect and Valencia just lacked that little bit extra to get back into the game. Luuk de Jong and Karim Rekik stayed on the bench for ninety minutes. Sevilla comes to 74 points and hopes that Atlético Madrid and Real Madrid will lose points on Wednesday evening and Thursday evening respectively. The Lopetegui team will play the difficult away game against Villarreal on Sunday evening.