Santander League | Levante takes faith to La Nucía

Until the 87th minute of Levante-Sevilla, Lopetegui's team had the passport for the next Champions on track. As he had surpassed Betis, he was also showing himself far superior to Levante. But … this is soccer. Miramón took a poisonous cross, Vaclik missed the block and the ball hit Diego Carlos, the best by far of the game, to enter the goal of Seville.

Nine minutes left, including the discount, and The strongest team until then since LaLiga returned, their legs began to shake. So much Levante was on the point of turning the tortilla around at the discount but Vaclik responded to a hard shot by Mayoral and Diego Carlos took the ball from Vezo's head when he was already licking his lips.

Sevilla's final match does not tarnish Sevilla's good return. Of course, the feeling of pressure that was putting his pursuers is relieved. Levante did it again.

Levante raised the same game for Sevilla as they did for Valencia a few days ago. And he scratched a tie again at the end. Input, offered him possession of the ball. But he closed all the gaps and those of Lopetegui could not create a single occasion at stake. Ocampos' evident fatigue also made things easier for Paco López's hard-working group.

The azulgranas entrusted everything to a spark of their men above. But today, the spark is priced at Russian caviar. And it had to be Coke (the hero of Basel) to Campaña's pass (Sevilla squad and closely followed by Monchi), who was closest to beating Vaclik, in the 3 ’. The Czech goalkeeper responded with placement.

Thus the things, Sevilla approached Aitor's goal only with set pieces. Of course, with great danger. In the 14 ', Munir smashed the ball into the crosshead. In half an hour, the bangs of the granota barrier saved a direct free kick from Ocampos that smelled like a goal. And in the 40 ', Koundé did not hit a clean header and it was too crossed.

Sevilla came out of the break with a sharp tusk. Diego Carlos put a long pass to the Beckenbauer, Munir controlled with his chest and put it at the far post and there De Jong finished off the net. In 25 seconds. Pim, pam, pum.

Levante, who had another script for the second half, was not expecting the blow. Now he had to create what complicated the thing. Above above, Mayoral and Morales did not mess with Koundé and, above all, Diego Carlos, an outstanding center back physically, tactically and seen what was seen yesterday in the first goal, also technically.

Hernani and Bardhi moved the tree and the Portuguese had it but Koundé took out under sticks. It was the preamble to the goal, which came after a lethal carom for Sevilla.

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Lopetegui: “The responsibility for the tie is mine”

Julen Lopetegui assumed full responsibility for the two points that Sevilla lost in the final stretch against Levante by not having improved the team with their changes. His reflections were as follows:

Summary: “The feeling is not good because we wanted to win. In the last 15 minutes they were superior and we gave away many balls. The responsibility belongs to the coach because we were able to make five changes and instead of improving we have worsened.”

Key: “It was a matter of reading the game, where they did better than us. We did not know how to counter their dominance in the final stage.”

Development: “The match was similar to the derby. We used to be a team that handles the results well and this time we did not. In the end we suffered and we could even do more.”

Locker room: “The legs are fine, the team has worked well and physically has worked a lot. I hope we recover quickly ahead of Friday.” – Jose María López-.

Paco López: “We come back reinforced”

Outcome: “It is a good result, the truth is that we only asked to have added a little more in these days. In Valencia, it was a golden point and what Levante has done has much merit, both in Mestalla and La Nucía.”

Physical final section: “They asked me precisely before the first match against Valencia if the conditional factor was going to be decisive. We have worked more in the game than in the conditional factor. Another message that we are launching is that having the opportunity to make five changes, they are very important, a lot, the people who come from the bench. It happened to us the other day and it happened again today. That makes the team stronger and we are playing with high temperatures and in all the games the last minutes are going to be decisive “

First goal: “I am sorry because I have not been able to see it yet. It is impossible to see it, a ball into space to Munir. They will have thrown the corresponding lines and they will have validated it.”

Roger's absence: “We have again shown that absences should not be noticed because we have a player with a level that has been demonstrated again today. We have played against a very powerful team and after those minutes the team has remade itself, has had faith again, it has incredible mental strength and I'm keeping that. “

Camilo Cano: “The field is ours, the one that we are going to have these months. We are adapting and we are happy. We are not going to make any excuses. There are always things to improve, but always taking into account the rivals we had in front of us. There are details. For example, today the goal has come in a similar goal and in that sense we are going to have to keep insisting. In every game there are things to improve, but I also keep how good the team has done. We come back stronger. “

The changes: “The thing about Coke has nothing to do with the goal. We needed freshness out there, Sevilla used the bands a lot and Jorge Miramón and Hernani when they were fresh were going to give us. On the outside, Hernani is an overflowing player and we wanted freshness in those areas of the field. “

Tie: “I'm satisfied with the point, but we were left with that bitter taste because I think we deserved to win in the end and we could have won with those clear plays.”

The most positive: “There are always things to improve in every game, we try to reinforce on the positive side.”

The most negative, the goal: “It is a pass without pressure from Diego Carlos and we have not been successful in neutralizing that. It is true that it is a team that has good players in space, with many virtues. Not only is our mistake wrong, but we must also appreciate that they were ahead of the best of Spanish football. ” – Luis Sancho -.