Sevilla’s reasonable penalty shout in the 10th minute, when Juan Iglesias appeared to be felled, was the only worthwhile action of note in the opening stages.
Valencia’s recent bad luck continued when Cesar Tarrega had to be subbed off with a hamstring issue, and a congested midfield saw both teams cancel each other out for long periods.
The game was actually more remarkable for its lack of quality than anything else, with no shots on target and only five total efforts before half-time, including a wild volleyed attempt by Isaac Romero that flew over.
Félix Correia’s astonishingly bad 35.4% pass completion for the hosts fortunately wasn’t replicated by his teammates, but they were still unable to break down a tenacious Valencia back line before the break.
Just five minutes into the second half, a magnificent downward header from Sevilla’s Kike Salas almost brought the opener, but Stole Dimitrievski palmed the effort wide.
From the resulting corner, Lucas Stassin went even closer, as his header bounced off the foot of the post.
With an hour gone, Sevilla were in the ascendancy, and Youssouf Fofana was the next to test Dimitrievski with a low right-footed drive that the goalkeeper did well to hold on to.
However, the game soon settled back into the pattern from the first 45, with little for either set of supporters to be excited by.
David Otorbi smashed a late shot against the woodwork for Los Che, before Iglesias’ looping header from a free-kick handed the Andalusians a vital lead.
The win sees Sevilla keep a clean sheet for only the third time in 26 games this year, and the result moves them up to third in the table ahead of the rest of the weekend’s fixtures. The loss is also Valencia coach Carlos Corberán’s first in this fixture since taking charge of the club (W2, D3), and only adds to his and their problems at present.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Andres Castrin (Sevilla)
