Seville, February 28 (BNA): Second-placed Seville beat arch-rival Real Betis 2-1 to reduce the gap with Real Madrid, the leaders of the League, to six points.
Julen Lopetegui’s side dominated the derby from the start and Ivan Rakitic opened the scoring in the 24th minute with a penalty kick after goalkeeper Claudio Bravo missed striker Youssef Al-Nusairi in a one-on-one encounter inside the penalty area, Reuters reported.
Four minutes before the end of the first half, Munir El Haddadi, who came minutes before the injured Babu Gomez, took advantage of a mistake from Betis’ defense to score the ball and hit a low cross between Bravo and his left post.
Sergio Canales scored the consolation goal for Betis in stoppage time with a perfect free kick from the edge of the penalty area that reached the upper left corner.
Seville rose to 54 points from 26 games, eight points ahead of Betis in third place, but still behind Real Madrid, who lead by 60 games.
After one win in their last five league matches, Sevilla needed a win on Sunday to keep their ambitions of winning the title for the first time since 1946.
They rose with a convincing performance against in-form Betis, who was shining in second as their local rival struggled.
“We will fight to the end,” Munir told reporters.
“I started off the bench and was enjoying the way my team-mates were playing. Going forward and scoring is great. Winning the Seville derby is unbelievable; Sunday night is going to be a long night of celebration for our fans.”