The visitors took the lead through a spectacular overhead-kick from former Sevilla player Sergio Ramos on 22 minutes, but Ciro Immobile scored his first goal for the Andalusians to level the scores 10 minutes before half-time.
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Later, leader Real Madrid visits Sevilla while second-place Barcelona hosts Villarreal in two tough tests for the front-runners before they clash next round in the first “clasico” match of the season.
Juventus came back from a goal down to win 3-1 at Empoli and move above Lazio on goal difference.
Sevilla responded well, Ramos required to deny Immobile a clear-cut chance before the Madrid defender was replaced by Raphael Varane. Yehven Konoplyanka, who was a menace all day, would waltz his way through the Real Madrid defense, playing a series of one-twos with Ever Banega just before the Argentine midfielder finished it off with an empty net in front.
Pique’s sensual revelation was then put to Sergio Ramos, who in turn revealed that he had suffered similar sexy side effects during La Liga’s showpiece blow-out.
As Sevilla sat deep, the visitors got their breakthrough courtesy of a sublime Ramos finish midway through the half. The Merengues were beaten 3-2 at the Sánchez Pizjuán and basically delivered their weakest performance of the season so far. “These are unusual types of games (against Barca) and I expect the team to come back well from the defeat”, Benitez told a news conference.
Fernando Llorente headed in the third it looked like game over, although James Rodriguez showed his class by netting Madrid’s second late in injury time.
“There’s no better match to that for bouncing back”. And Sevilla made the points safe when Llorente took advantage of wide open spaces in the heart of the penalty area to powerfully head home a right wing cross from Mariano. They attacked with objective and pressed hard when they lost the ball, a part of their game which has increased significantly under Rafael Benitez.
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The draw means Ajax remained top with 29 points while champions PSV Eindhoven jumped above Feyenoord into second spot after they beat Utrecht 3-1.
