Sevilla beat Eibar 1-0 in Spain’s La Liga on Monday and look a good bet to qualify for the Champions League with four matches to play. The victory lifts fourth placed Sevilla six points clear of the team below them Villarreal, who were thumped by Barcelona on Sunday.
Earlier in the evening Real Sociedad’s poor run since the restart continued with a 1-1 draw at Levante, meaning they have dropped from the top four to seventh. Sevilla can thank their on-form Argentine Lucas Ocampos who fired home the winner on 56 after nice work from Jesus Navas.
Eibar had defended grimly sitting deep and tackling hard. This was a second straight win for Sevilla after four consecutive draws after the restart of La Liga. Real Sociedad took the lead against Levante through Sweden’s Alexander Isak after 12 minutes, but were pegged back on 16 by Jose Luis Morales from a speculative cross-shot.
Barcelona’s 4-1 win at Villarreal reduced the gap at the top to Real Madrid to four points with four games left setting up a tense finish to the season Madrid ground out a 1-0 win over Athletic Bilbao at San Mames, with a Sergio Ramos penalty proving the difference. Real’s resilient performance, and their third 1-0 victory in a row,
Meanwhile, Sevilla’s Czech goalkeeper Tomas Vaclik, who was carried off on a stretcher late in the victory over Eibar, has suffered a knee ligament sprain his club said. Sevilla said that Vaclik “suffered a sprain of the internal lateral ligament in his left knee” and that it was not yet clear how long he would be out. Because Sevilla had used all their substitutes, Argentine winger Lucas Ocampos, who had earlier scored the only goal, took over in goal. In the 11th minute of added time, he preserved the victory when he saved a close-range shot by opposing goalkeeper Marko Dmitrovic, who had come up for a corner.
Sevilla’s midfielder Lucas Ocampos (centre) celebrates stopping a shot after replacing injured goalkeeper Tomas Vaclik during La Liga match against Eibar. (AFP)
