Sevilla Sunk By Silky Standard Liege

Standard Liege 1-0 Sevilla

Standard Liege's intimidating Stade Maurice Dufrasne Liege ground was absolutely packed to the rafters tonight for the visit of Spaniards Sevilla, in one of the ties of the evening in the UEFA cup group stage.

The Belgians hosts have been gathering praise for their attack-minded play, and they have been involved in some exciting matches. Everton were ousted here 2-1 to make it this far, and Liverpool could count themselves extremely lucky to sneak past them in the Champions League third qualifier.

Tonight, Sevilla suffered the same wave of passing and pace that tormented the Merseyside clubs, and with Manolo Jiminez's men in poor form, losing their last three matches, Liege's first half display was the last thing they needed.

Standard were brilliant in the opening period. With the partizan crowd well and truly behind them, they drove forward as often as possible and often the Rojiblancos had no answer.

The only surprise was that is took just over half an hour for the deadlock to be broken. Striker Mbokami drove through the heart of the Sevilla back-line and slotted the ball neatly past Palop for a well-deserved lead.

They should have made it two before half-time, when Igor De Camargo slipped a neat volley across goal, but this time Palop brilliantly fingertipped the ball around the post to keep his side in the match. Then right on half-time, Palop was the hero again, saving with his legs when Mbokani looked destined to double the lead. Sevilla were toiling, and were delighted to hear the half-time whistle.

The former UEFA cup winners started the second period with far more purpose, however. Navas, Adriano and Luis Fabiano were finding more space, and the latter had his sides best opportunity when he skewed his overhead kick wide with the goalkeeper Espinoza commited.

But for all their possession, they couldn't fashion enough clear openings to test the Belgians resolve, and indeed Standard became equally dangerous on the counter-attack as the match wore on.

Sevilla had to push for an equaliser, and threw numerous crosses into the area to test Espinoza, and on eighty minutes his weak punch landed at Maresca's feet. The Italian smashed in a powerful volley but it was straight back at the goalkeeper and he clutched the ball gratefully.

Eventually, Sevilla lost their discipline slightly as they were frustrated by the industry and determination of this excellent Standard Liege outfit. It was a deserved win in the end, and their stock rises further in Europe this season.

Goals:

Standard:

Mbokani (38')

Teams:
Standard Liege:
Espinoza, Bonfim, Onyewu, Sarr, Witsel, Camozzato, Defour, Dalmat (Benko 90'), De Camargo, Jovanovic, Mbokani

Sevila:
Palop, Navarro, Escude, Prieto, Konko (Crespo 74'), Romaric (De Mul 60'), Maresca, Jesus Navas, Renato, Adriano (Rodriguez 80'), Luis Fabiano

Paul Macdonald