April 18, (THEWILL) – On Sunday night in the Spanish top flight, Real Madrid won a thrilling 3-2 match against Sevilla, with Karim Benzema’s stoppage-time goal officially ending any discussion of a La Liga title battle.
Ivan Rakitic and Erik Lamela scored in the first half, but Rodrygo, Nacho Fernandez, and then Benzema scored in the second half to give the visitors a hard-fought but extremely rewarding three points.
It took the magnificent quality of the Frenchman to separate the teams in what was an equally matched contest between Spain’s current top two sides, in a fixture of contrasting halves.
While both teams had chances to harm their opponents as Anthony Martial and Karim Benzema passed up chances that could have resulted in a goal, Los Blancos were the ones that kept control early on and looked more likely to score first.
Despite dominating possession and having a penalty claim dismissed – Bono’s shaky flapping of the ball onto his teammate’s arm could well have been given – Ancelotti’s men were left staring at the turf as Sevilla raced into a two-goal lead after 25 minutes, courtesy of a couple of quick-fire strikes.
Rakitic took advantage of Eder Militao’s strange choice to jump out of the wall as his free-kick sailed into Thibaut Courtois’ bottom corner, just moments after Real were upset by the referee’s lack of finger-pointing to the penalty spot in their favour.
Julen Lopetegui’s side were back in dreamland just four minutes later, as another lapse in defending from Militao allowed Tecatito Corona to speed through the visitor defence onto Marcos Acuna’s pass, before the Mexican’s rebounding shot dropped perfectly for Erik Lamela to swipe into an empty net.
After then, Sevilla’s status as La Liga’s finest defence became clear, as Los Blancos tried in vain to break down their opponents before the interval.
In the second half, Rodrygo displayed terrific movement in the 18-yard box to grab onto Dani Carvajal’s cutback and slide the ball into the roof of the net inside five minutes of his debut. It happened just minutes after Benzema lost a gilt-edged chance with a lukewarm finish that was palmed away by Bono.
With 20 minutes remaining on the clock, the drama resumed after a brief lull in the action. The visitors believed they were level just a few minutes as Rafa Mir sent a straightforward headed chance from a few yards out into row Z of the stands.
Vinicius Junior was disallowed a goal despite clearly chesting Lucas Vazquez’s cross down before clinically firing a half-volley into Bono’s net following an on-screen review.
Ancelotti’s side finally found an equaliser with eight minutes remaining. Carvajal supplied another inch-perfect cutback after recovering the ball high up the pitch. This time, he teed up Nacho to sweep home with his first touch seconds after entering the field.
Benzema was on hand to provide Real Madrid with yet another winning goal, handling Rodrygo’s cutback, taking a couple of touches, and then slamming past Bono in the Sevilla goal to bring their hosts to their knees.
That was the end of the nail-biting drama, with Ancelotti’s team taking a 15-point lead at the top of La Liga and basically sealing what remained of the title chase.
About the Author
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
