Levante stopped Sevilla from getting maximum points and continued their Champions League’s aim for next season after a late own goal by defender Diego Carlos canceled out Luuk de Jong’s opener to end the La Liga game in a 1-1 draw at the Estadio Camilo Cano on Monday.
After a goalless first half dominated by the visitors, and they eventually broke the deadlock through Dutch forward De Jong, who found the back of the net in the first minute of the second half when he slammed home Munir’s perfect pass to finish from a counter-attack move.
Sevilla maintained the dominance but couldn’t get the second that would have killed the game. That became their undoing in dispute Levante looking well beaten. Goalkeeper Tomas Vaclik and Carlos dashed the hosts a point after they were involved in a mix up with the latter turning Jorge Miramon’s cross into his net in the 87th minute.
Sevilla, which is currently unbeaten in six games, is third on the log with 51 points, four ahead of Real Sociedad, and five ahead of both Getafe and Atletico Madrid.
Levante, on the other hand, occupies the 12th spot on the table with 35 points.
Levante was better in the last 15 minutes – Lopetegui
Reacting to the outcome of the game, Sevilla’s coach, Julen Lopetegui, who was annoyed with the result said his side failed to find a second goal which would have given the team breathing space
Speaking to official media, the former Spain coach said the team intended to get maximum points, but the hosts were the better side in the last 15 minutes.
While accepting the responsibility of allowing his team to give the hosts the chance to come back into the game, he said after making five changes the moment they were under pressure due to constant pressing from Levante.
“We had five fresh players. I think it was a question of reading the game as they took risks, and we did not know how to counter. We tend to be a side who manages results well, and today we did not. The way of managing it is looking for a second goal, and we did not get it; we could well have had another shock too”.
Speaking ahead of meeting with Barcelona on Friday, Lopetegui, said his side are in good physical shape:
“They’ve got good legs in them. I think the team worked well in the circumstances, they came into the match well physically, and let’s hope they recover quickly, looking ahead to Friday”.
