Sevilla stunned by sharp Celta

Sevilla suffered their second La Liga loss of the season when they went down 2-0 to Celta Vigo at the Estadio Balaidos on Friday night.

Iago Aspas opened the scoring from the penalty spot on the hour mark before Quique De Lucas secured the victory five minutes from time.

The hosts were there better side throughout the match as Sevilla appeared to be disjointed in the middle of the park, but Michel Gonzalez’ side will rue some of the good chances that they missed.

The home side came close to opening the scoring in the 10th minute when Argentine defender Gustavo Cabral rose at the near post to connect with an inswinging corner from Iago Aspas, but his glancing header went just wide of the far post.

Six minutes later Sevilla had a chance at the other end when Geoffrey Kondogbia carved the Celta Vigo defence open on the right, but his low cross went across goal untouched as none of his teammates were able to get into the box quickly enough.

Then in the 17th minute Aspas saw his long range shot turned wide by Andres Palop, while Park Chu-Young also forced a good save from the Sevilla goalkeeper three minutes later.

Sevilla were clearly missing the presence of suspended players Gary Medel and Ivan Rakitic in the middle of the park, as well as the injure Piotr Trochowski, but in the 29th minute Jose Campana managed to create some shooting space outside the box, but his effort went wide.

Alex Lopez had one last chance to break the deadlock ten minutes before the break, only to see his shot blocked by Alberto Botia just inside the penalty area.

Aspas continued to trouble the Sevilla defence in the second half and in the 52nd minute he managed to shake of his marker just outside the box, but in the end his shot was saved comfortably by Palop.

However, Celta were awarded a penalty eight minutes later when Hedwiges Maduro was adjudged to have handled Aspas’ freekick inside the box.

The Spaniard then stepped up to take the spotkick and made no mistake as he tucked the ball in the bottom right corner, sending Palop the wrong way.

The visitors should have equalised in the 70th minute when substitute Manu del Moral found Alvaro Negredo on the edge of the six-yard box, but his shot went agonizingly wide of the post.

Six minutes later Jesus Navas, who was having a quiet game by his standards, managed to find Manu inside the box, but his header produced a spectacular save from Sergio Alvarez as he tipped the ball over the bar.

The hosts made sure of the points in the 85th minute when substitute De Lucas nodded home from close range two minutes after coming onto the field, connecting with a cross from Augusto Fernandez.