Sevilla 2-2 Elche: Peque Fernández rescues Sevilla late in the day | OneFootball

Sevilla were held to a draw by Elche at home, as they continued their struggle to find form early in the season.

Isaac Romero opened the scoring for the hosts with a well-struck volley into the bottom corner after a cagey first 25 minutes at the Estadio Ramón Sánchez Pizjuán.

But it didn’t take the visitors long into the second half to draw level, as Portuguese marksman André Silva netted his first of the season for the newly promoted side, assisted by a creative moment from young Martim Neto.

Elche proceeded to take the lead through one of Sevilla’s own. Rafa Mir’s fantastic free-kick flew past Ørjan Nyland with 20 minutes to go.

After a lengthy VAR review, substitute Peque Fernández’s blistering finish equalised for the home side, which brought the fixture to a fiery end.

As it happened

Despite some sloppy play and strong challenges, both Sevilla and Elche struggled to find many openings in the first 25 minutes. That was until a hopeful looped ball by Batista Mendy was flicked on by Ruben Vargas and volleyed home by Romero, giving the home side the lead a few moments before the half-hour mark.

Elche remained happy to be patient in build-up, even after they went behind, which only allowed Sevilla to become more comfortable in their shape and take control of the game’s momentum.

The visitors’ infamous short corners nearly drew them level, as Neto’s attempt from distance flashed through a sea of bodies but narrowly passed the far corner, which drew a close to a quite feisty first 45 minutes.

Straight into the second half, Matías Dituro nearly gifted Romero and Sevilla their second. The goalkeeper spilled Vargas’ long-ranged effort into the path of the striker who found the back of the net, but didn’t hold his run long enough and was caught offside.

Just a few moments later, Elche responded to Sevilla’s lively start to the second period by silencing the home crowd with an equaliser. Neto had been one of the few bright sparks in the first half for Elche, he produced some lovely footwork before sliding a ball from the touchline into the centre of the box where fellow countryman Silva fired past Nyland.

Sevilla were the architects of their own downfall in more ways than one on the night. After they gave away a cheap freekick, Mir fired in his third goal in three games for Elche, this time against the side that he is being loaned out by, giving los Franjiverdes the lead, much to the frustration of the Sevilla faithful.

Matías Almeyda’s substitutes combined brilliantly for the fourth goal of the game. A long ball was clipped forward to ex-Arsenal forward Alexis Sánchez, whose deft backheel found Peque Fernández with space and time in the area. The young midfielder slammed the ball past Dituro and into the top corner.

As far as goals were concerned, the game had finished after the 85th minute, but this tie had been bubbling and boiling all night and just started to spill over. Tempers flared and emotions ran high and wild with three bookings being handed out in added time as the score read 2-2.

Elche remain undefeated in the league so far this season as they look onwards to Real Oviedo, with Sevilla travelling away to Alavés next weekend, searching for their first clean sheet of the campaign.

The lineups

SEV: Nyland; González, Marcao, Nianzou, Azpilicueta, Sánchez; Mendy, Gudelj, Agoumé; Vargas, Romero