Racing Santander and Sevilla draw 1-1
Sevilla couldn't muster a victory on home soil and dropped another two points as they drew 1-1 with Racing Santander on Thursday night.
The tie drops Sevilla below Barcelona in the league table into fifth spot on eight points. Sevilla remain undefeated in the league but will be frustrated by dropping points they would have hoped to earn
against a side like Racing who sit a mere two points off the bottom. The draw becomes all the more disheartening when, as the last of all the midweek games, all the players in the Sevilla side knew that a victory would have leapfrogged them past Real Madrid
and into first place heading into the weekend.
Sevilla opened the scoring with a penalty strike after Racing goalkeeper Tono struck Sevilla midfielder Alejandro Alfaro in the face while trying to deflect away a high ball in the 13th minute. The incident
earned the goalkeeper a yellow card and opened the door to Sevilla striker Alvaro Negredo who coolly slid the ball home from the penalty spot.
With Sevilla in the lead Racing were forced to be the ones to create chances but seemed short on ideas as they controlled possession deep in midfield but were unable to find any real breakthroughs and
resorted to low percentage through balls.
Racing goalkeeper Tono was given a chance to redeem himself in the first half as he turned away what looked like it would be a certain second goal, and a doubtless three points for Sevilla, by turning
away a tremendous opportunity at goal for midfielder Diego Perotti who had been expertly played through by Negredo.
The first half ended with Racing finally beginning to apply some real pressure toward the Sevilla goal. The second half started much the same as the first had ended and Racing were eventually rewarded
for their efforts as Racing defender Pablo Pinillos fired home a stunning equalizer. With a low cross sent in from Adrian Gonzalez, Pinillos met the cross on the half volley striking it with furious pace into far corner giving Sevilla keeper Andres Palop no
chance.
Sevilla then looked to pull the sway of the game back into their favor but it was actually Racing who created the better chances. Even the introduction of Brazilian striker Luis Fabiano couldn't help Sevilla
bring the result they were looking for. And had it not been for a key save to deny Racing midfielder Papa Kouly Diop, Sevilla might have come away without any points.
Racing play away to Getafe this weekend while Sevilla travel to Alicante to take on Hercules.
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