Sevilla Coach Marcelino Garcia Toral praised his team’s efforts that on Sunday evening saw them beat the much-fancied and new-look Malaga side 2-1 at the Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan.
Following on from the Rojiblancos’ midweek European exit, Marcelino expressed the importance of Alvaro Negredo’s opening strike to settle the team’s nerves: “I think there influential factors to how a game unfolds, and a second-minute goal gives you peace of mind and has the opposite effect on your opponent.”
Negredo opened the scoring for the hosts in the second minute when he was left free to head in a Jesus Navas cross from eight yards out. Diego Perotti’s work down the left wing in the 26th minute then found the No 9 on the edge of the D to place a low shot past Willy Caballero to double the lead.
Santi Cazorla pulled one back with a 25-yard second-half free-kick that found the top right corner, but the visitors – who have spent €58m on talent this summer – only found the target with one other shot throughout the 90, despite seeing 14% more of the ball and completing 131 more passes than their opponents.
Marcelino was overly impressed with Sevilla’s performance: “If you attack and defend like [on Sunday], it creates a good dynamic that could allow us to really entertain the fans.”
Sevilla 2-1 Malaga match report
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