A job well done. And a draw bringing hope for RC Lens (1-1). Suffice it to say, an almost perfect evening in Andalusia for the return of the Northerners to the Champions League after 21 years of absence. A result to bear fruit in two weeks when we host Arsenal, the ogre of the pool.
Sevilla FC hosted RC Lens this Wednesday evening, at the Etihad Stadium, during the first day of Group B of the Champions League. A fairly important match for the Sang et Or who returned to the big-eared competition after 21 years of absence. In bad shape in Ligue 1, Franck Haise’s players wanted to bounce back in style in Andalusia.
In the first period, Sevilla FC quickly manhandled the evening visitors and it was logical that Lucas Ocampos, who had already performed a nice solo number earlier (5th), equalized from a set piece. On a corner taken by Ivan Rakitic, the Argentinian cuts the trajectory of the ball with his head and thus lobbies goalkeeper Brice Samba on his line (9th). But RC managed to rebound effectively on a magnificent free kick won by Elye Wahi. It was Angelo Fulgini who took care of it to lodge the leather in the top corner with a hand fault from goalkeeper Marko Dmitrović (24th). An awakening of the Lensois with aggressiveness and intensity, sometimes too much excess commitment as evidenced by these four yellow cards in the first period: Facundo Medina (13th), Florian Sotoca (17th), Brice Samba (18th) and Angelo Fulgini (30th) .
In the second act, the Lensois showed great things in attack, even dominating the Andalusian locals in sequence. On several occasions, the Sang et Or could have doubled the bet but Serbian goalkeeper Marko Dmitrović made two big saves, on the head of Morgan Guilavogui (78th) then Sotoca (79th). Brice Samba also had work to maintain the score with this save on Lukebakio’s shot (69th). It took more than 15 minutes into the second half for Sevilla to attempt their first strike of the act.
With this result, RC Lens begins its new European epic with a valuable away draw. In the other Group B match, Arsenal made short work of PSV by crushing them (4-0) on the pitch at the Emirates Stadium.
