Sevilla Held By Late Osasuna Equalizer

A well-placed effort from Jesus Navas midway through the second period separated Sevilla from Osasuna after a poor game in Andalucia.

That said the rojillos were to have the first chance of the game as Kike Sola headed just over from Plasil's cross.

However, Osasuna were otherwise largely spectators in the first period due to an ineffectual midfield: only the fast work from the likes of Sola up front saw them carve out any chances.

Sevilla were to have the best of it; Diego Capel's cross for Fredi Kanoute 23 minutes in was extremely close to heading goalbound, but the rojillos were standing firm.

With five minutes to go in the first half, though, Romaric so nearly opened the scoring, and then Fredi Kanoute claimed for a penalty after falling in the box under a Miguel Flano challenge. Referee Delgado Ferreiro, though, saw nothing wrong with the tackle.

With that the first half ended, but Sevilla did not have to wait long to open the scoring. Jesus Navas drilled a superbly accurate shot into the far bottom corner of Roberto's net as Natxo Monreal stood off him; the defender gave the winger too much space, but there was no arguing with the finish.

The match took on a bad-tempered spirit for a while afterwards, with fouls and yellow cards providing more action than the goalmouths, but that was to change in the final 15 minutes.

First Masoud Shojaei carved out a brilliant solo move that resulted in a Palop save, and then at the other end Jesus Navas almost managed a second.

But substitute Walter Pandiani seized on a deflected Javad Nekounam effort to tap the ball past Palop from an only-just-onside position to delight the tiny visiting support.

Kanoute very nearly made it 2-1 right at the death, but Osasuna had done enough to salvage a point.