The ‘El Gran Derby’ in Seville lived up to its reputation as both Real Betis and Sevilla played out a thrilling 1-1 stalemate in which both sides had players sent off. As many as three red cards were shown split between the two sides as the rivalry descended into chaos and madness at the Benito Villamarin Stadium on Sunday.
The chaos initially ensued when Argentine defender Gonzalo Montiel was shown a straight red card in the 38th minute, followed by a yellow card to fellow Argentine Marcos Acuna.
A tragedy unfolded almost immediately for Sevilla when veteran Jesus Navas came on to replace striker Rafa Mir but ended up scoring an own goal in the very next minute since coming on to the pitch.
The red card, Rafa Mir’s injury and replacement, and the own goal from Navas proved to be a triple whammy for Sevilla until they found some momentum towards the closing stages of the first half when Betis’ midfielder Nabil Fekir also saw his marching orders for violent conduct.
Although the second half began with 20 men on the pitch, just four minutes later, Borja Iglesias also saw the dreaded red card bringing Betis down to nine men.
Sevilla took advantage of the extra man and went on to equalise 10 minutes before the end of the stipulated time when defender Nemanja Gudelj struck a sweet and powerful left-footed shot from outside the box that wrestled into the top left corner to stun the capacity crowd at the Benito Villamarin.
Seven further yellow cards were dished out in the second half as tempers continued to flare but besides the odd half-chances, there were no further threats on goal as the contest ended 1-1 in Seville. Betis continue to maintain their position inside the top four while Sevilla are dangerously close to the relegation zone at 17th place in the league table.
On the other hand, Villarreal fans asked for new manager Quique Setien’s sacking barely 12 days into his tenure as the side suffered yet another loss, this time a 2-0 defeat against Mallorca.
The Yellow Submarine are still winless under the former Barcelona boss, who took over following Unai Emery’s move to Aston Villa on October 25. Villarreal suffered their third straight defeat under him acorss all tournament, losing 2-0 to Mallorca. This prompted chants of Setien getting sacked from the home supporters.
