Sevilla has set foot in the round of 16 of the Europa League after beating Dinamo Zagreb 3-1 this Thursday at the Ramón Sánchez Pizjuán stadium.
Sevilla went ahead with a penalty from Ivan Rakitic (13) and Mislav Orsic equalized 1-1 (41), but in two minutes Lucas Ocampos (44) and Anthony Martial (45+1) shot the Andalusian team on the scoreboard.
The sevillistas could not have started their journey in their fetish competition in a better way, after his elimination from the Champions League, in a match in which he was clearly dominant.
“The team has competed well”, said the Sevilla coachJulen Lopetegui, after the match.
“We have achieved this result that we will have to do well there because it will surely be a very complicated match”, added Lopetegui, warning that “the swords are still high”.
The locals went ahead after a quarter of an hour with a penalty converted by Rakiticafter Alejandro ‘Papu’ Gómez was brought down in the Croatian area by goalkeeper Dominik Livakovic (13).
Supported on the scoreboard, Sevilla managed the match until a Diego Carlos’s error in the clearance left Orsic alone against Bono to make it 1-1 (41).
Croatian joy barely lasted three minutes because in a great reaction, the Argentine Lucas Ocampos finished off with a volley to put Sevilla ahead again (44) and Martial extended the account with a cross shot (45+1) before going to rest.
Around the break, the Dinamo Zagreb stepped forward, trying to press the ball out of Sevilla.
The Croats gave a scare with a chopped header from Rasmus Lauritsen that Bono rejected and the ball ended up at the feet of Deni Juric who, with the sevillista goalkeeper on the ground, he finished low to the body of Bono (53).
It was the only occasion for Dinamo, that ended up going from more to less.
Dinamo tried to advance towards the Sevilla goal, but the locals did not have too many problems to disrupt the rival attacks.
Sevilla kept the reins of the game at all times, overcoming the pressure of Dinamo without too many problems, which little by little was withdrawing until it was limited to containing the Sevilla attacks.