Sevilla and Mallorca drew 0-0 in a match dominated, essentially, by the Andalusian team, who deserved more. A duel where, also, Mallorca had its chances of winning. For example, in extra time, when Doménech did not finish off a great cross from Samu in the six-yard box. Then, Sevilla was already one man down due to Saúl being sent off in the last minute for protesting to the referee.
0
Leo Román, Johan Mojica, Martin Valjent, Antonio Raíllo, Pablo Maffeo, Sergi Darder (Marc Domenech, min. 81), Samú Costa, Manu Morlanes (Omar Mascarell, min. 72), Cyle Larin (Takuma Asano, min. 64) , Antonio Sánchez (Dani Rodríguez, min. 64) and Vedat Muriqi (Abdón Prats, min. 81)
0
Ørjan Nyland, Adrià Pedrosa, Loïc Badé, Nemanja Gudelj (Marcão, min. 69), José Ángel Carmona, Albert Sambi Lokonga (Juanlu Sánchez, min. 62), Saúl Ñíguez, Djibril Sow, Kelechi Iheanacho (Isaac Romero, min. 61 ), Dodi Lukébakio (Jesús Navas, min. 69) and Chidera Ejuke (Lucien Agoumé, min. 90)
Referee Alejandro Muniz Ruiz
Yellow cards
Djibril Sow (min. 87)
Red cards
Saul (min. 88)
The 0-0 draw does not reflect the good performance of Sevilla, who lacked, without a doubt, efficiency. García Pimienta’s team, more balanced, dominated the match for an hour. Moments of great names. Like those of goalkeeper Leo Román, who was given a starting place by Jagoba Arrasate in place of Greif. The goalkeeper responded with seven saves, some of them of great quality. Moments, too, where winger Ejuke offered flashes of great quality.
After the hour mark, Sevilla lost steam after their good performance. Mallorca then had their chances. Muriqi crashed into Nyland and Doménech hit him in the air. Sevilla improved their defence and did not score despite their 16 shots. Mallorca, with shortcomings, fought well, as in their league debut against Madrid, with whom they collected another 0-0 at their stadium.
Arrasate made the decision to rotate in goal and Leo Román took over for Mallorca, replacing Greif, who had been a starter for the first two games. Leo, who had a stint at Oviedo last season, made five saves in the first half. In this way, he became the main protagonist of a duel that Sevilla should have won. Between Leo and the fact that the Andalusian team lacked efficiency, Mallorca, without football, with too much long play, was able to weather a storm that, at times, overwhelmed them. Sevilla started with the idea of not conceding anything. The Andalusians were weighed down by the four goals conceded in the first two games of the League. But the team loosened up. With the touches of Saúl and the overflow of a very interesting player on the right wing, Ejuke, who gave Maffeo a lot of work.
Sevilla’s 10 shots at half-time were proof of their dominance against a frightened Mallorca. Arrasate’s men have an obvious problem in building up play. They also lack the ability to get through on the wings. Relying on Larin and Muriqi to make long balls, they are a team with few resources in attack.
Sevilla, more secure at the back than in the first two games, increased their pressure on Mallorca in the second half. The same thing happened as in the first half. Their good approaches to the opponent’s area ended in shots that Leo saved with ease and in shots, like Sow’s, that missed the goal by just a few centimetres. Without efficiency and somewhat lost after García Pimienta’s changes, Sevilla somewhat lost the game. They are a team that is still afraid of losing. This happened after Nyland saved a very clear chance against Muriqi. Then Samu failed, probably offside, under the sticks. Sevilla only responded with a great shot from Isaac in the 80th minute that went just wide. That was when their attacking production ended. They still had to suffer the final push from the home team after Saúl’s absurd expulsion. Doménech had it. It would have been too much of a reward for Mallorca, but that’s football.
“Leo comes out stronger after this game, but you have to see him train and he deserves to play too,” said Jagoba Arrasate, Mallorca coach. “Saúl has a lot of respect for the referees. It was a tense moment, but these protests are useless. I hope he doesn’t get a harsh sanction. We had our chances, but we got a point and we have to make good on Sunday against Girona,” said García Pimienta.
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