Independiente del Valle were minutes away from securing a historic win against Sevilla FC at the Ramón Sánchez-Pijún stadium in the Antonio Puerta Trophy, a pilot test of the UEFA Cup-Conmebol club challenge that pits them against the champions of the Europa League and the Copa Superliga. Negriazuls won the game 0-1 until 90 minutes, 42 seconds when Pedro Ortiz equalized for the Andalusians, who were later beaten 4-1 in a penalty shootout by Ecuador.
Rayados took the lead through Lautaro Diaz, who capitalized on a mistake by Kik Salas from a long ball and stood against Dimitrovic, although Sevilla had their first chance when Moises Ramirez deflected Papu Gomez’s shot with his fists.
Sevilla were more determined after the break when Isaac missed a free shot from Juanlu’s cross (57), snatched the ball from Cillo Gijon’s men and staged some dangerous approaches (59).
The final minutes besieged Ramirez’s goal, who was booked for time-wasting and handed the equalizer at the drop of a hat when Pedro Ortiz nailed a cross from Idrissi to the far post after stopping Oliver Torres’ dangerous volley.
Ortiz avoided the first embarrassment of the pre-season for the reigning UEFA Europa League winners.
Independiente del Valle’s coach, Argentina’s Martín Anselmi, lamented the manner in which Sevilla lost at home, especially as the UEFA-Conmebol Club Challenge Cup represented the Negriazules’ best chance to reach Liga de Quito’s international record of four Conmebol titles.
“We were a little sad because it got away from us in the end, they have a hierarchy and they come from defining a trophy on penalties, we did too, they kicked better than us. There is that (bitter) taste, but we were able to show the world what Independiente del Valle is, we played evenly, it was us, we didn’t show ourselves at any time,” he told the channel at the end of the game. DSports.
“In the end we started to run without legs, trying to keep the result, but they came, they are Sevilla. There was still a little bit of that flavor left”, he insisted.
“The pre-season was fantastic. We came to compete, to find these types of rivals and to show that we can tie the game against Sevilla in ninety minutes,” assessed Anselmi.
(D)
/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/eluniverso/KPQTDQCX6RBKHAUXXPBXQHFCHY.jpg&description=%E2%80%98We%20came%20to%20show%20that%20we%20can%20equalize%20against%20Sevilla%20in%2090%20minutes%E2%80%99%3A%20Anselmi%2C%20after%20Independiente%20del%20Valle%E2%80%99s%20chance%20to%20win%20their%20first%20intercontinental%20trophy%20%7C%20%20Football%20%7C%20%20game){kind=link}