90TH MINUTE^
Seville is a city draped
with sunshine for over
300 days a year and it is
also a hotbed of football
with passions running high
for its two teams: Real
Betis Balompié and Sevilla
Football Club.
Flamboyant, colourful
and ferocious – these
are the hallmarks of the
biggest city derby in
Spanish football. The
fixture brings together
the neighbourhoods of
Heliópolis, traditionally
the base of the green
and whites of Betis and
the historic working class
distract, and arch rivals
Sevilla and their upper
class, red and white suburb
of Nervión. Nowadays, the
class divide isn’t what it
once was, but the intensity
of the derby very much
remains.
The 180th edition of the
Seville derby was given
added festive spice due to
the fact it was scheduled
for January 6, 2018 – Three
Kings’ Day, historically as
important, if not more so,
as Christmas.
There was a terrific festival
atmosphere to welcome
the two teams at the
Estadio Ramón Sánchez
Pizjuán, Sevilla’s home.
The derby, as it often does,
started at a frenzied pace
and it was Betis who madea blistering start with their
midfield dynamo Fabián
Ruiz scoring after just 34
seconds with a rasping left-
footed strike.
It set the tone for this
classic encounter as three
more goals made for
a topsy-turvy first half.
Forward Wissam Ben
Yedder equalized for the
hosts with a lovely flick
over the goalkeeper before
defender Zou Feddal
put Betis back in the
ascendency with a powerful
header. Simon Kjaer drew
Sevilla level once again
to close out a thrilling
first 45 minutes that was
deadlocked at 2-2.
Fans tried to catch their
breath, gripped by a
scintillating first half.
However, the second half
brought further drama with
another four goals served
up. Between the 60th and
70th minutes, three further
goals arrived. In the 63rd
minute, a beautiful team
goal was finished off by
Betis’ Danish left back
Riza Durmisi, the pick
of the goals. 2-3 quickly
became 2-4 two minutes
later thanks to striker
Sergio León scoring on his
birthday. But back came
Sevilla again in minute 67
with centre-back Clément
Lenglet nodding in as the
tide continued to turn.With the score 3-4,
neither side took a back
step. Instead, they each
continued to attack in a
thrilling tug-of-football-
war finale, culminating
with a breakaway Betis
goal. Winger Cristian Tello
scored in the final minute of
an extraordinary game to
win the derby for the green
and white half of the city,
their first victory in Sevilla’s
stadium in 60 years. It
was ecstasy for Betis but
despair for Sevilla. “It was a
tremendously entertaining
footballing match and
the perfect Christmas gift
for our supporters,” said
Joaquín, the delighted Betis
captain.
Rivalry aside, the game
lived up to the billing and
was an outstanding game
of football befitting of one
of the greatest derbies
on the planet. These two
eternal rivals will lock
horns again in mid-March
as the city celebrates its
spectacular footballing
centrepiece.GREAT GAMES
REVISITED
IT DOESN’T GET THE ATTENTION OF THE MADRID DERBY OR EL CLASICO BUT, DA-
VID WHITWORTH WRITES, THE SEVILLE DERBY IS A FIXTURE TO LOOK FORWARD
TO EVERY TIME ITS PLAYED.Sevilla 3-5 Real Betis
[La Liga, 2018]
Real Betis captain
Joaquin celebrating the
derby victory
SOCIAL
MEDIA
ROUND-UP
FERNANDES GETS A WORD OF
WARNING FROM A FAN
Facebook
Manchester United’s signing of Portuguese
midfielder Bruno Fernandes was arguably
the biggest deal of a rather lacklustre
transfer window. Despite it looking like it
was going to fall through at the last minute,
Fernandes joined the Red Devils and made
his debut in a rather drab 0-0 affair with
Wolves. He made the best of it, posting
for the first time in a United shirt saying
‘Happy with my debut, looking forward to
the next game and grab the three points.’
The replies telling Fernandes which United
players to avoid echoing were probably not
welcomed.INTER’S VEILED DIG
Twitter
Romelu Lukaku was shipped out of
Manchester United after scoring 15 goals
last season and was brandished not good
enough by many Red Devils fans. In came
Inter and since then the Belgian has been
on fire. As February came round, the striker
had netted 12 goals in just 11 Serie A away
games. The Italian giants highlighted this
with a tweet which mentioned his stats a
simple fire emoji and the words BIG ROM.
Rumour has it the Red Devils were keen to
bring him back but Inter were having none
of it.IGHALO ARRIVES UP NORTH
Instagram
David Beckham snapped himself on
The winter transfer window threw up
many surprises and none more so than
Manchester United’s attempt to sign every
striker on the globe. Lukaku and Carlos
Tevez were two names linked but neither
was able to return, and so the Red Devils
ended up nabbing former Watford hitman
Odion Ighalo. A great move for the Nigerian
but one that left United fans perhaps a little
underwhelmed.