Despite finishing with only nine men, Sevilla gave a valiant effort today coming back to earn a 2-2 draw against Atletico Madrid. Unfortunately, that wasn’t enough to stop Atleti from advancing to the Copa del Rey Final with a 4-3 aggregate victory.
Sevilla vs. Atletico Madrid: Final score 2-2, Los Rojiblancos advance to the final
Atletico Madrid scored twice early and then held on for a draw against Sevilla. Atleti advance to the Copa del Rey final with the aggregate victory.
Denis Doyle
Diego Simeone's team will now face off with city rivals Real Madrid in a Derbi Madrileño for the King's Cup. It'll be a daunting challenge for Atleti who haven't beat Madrid since 1999.
The weather was not cooperative at the Estadio Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan as the rain poured down as the match kicked off. Trailing 2-1 after the first leg, Sevilla couldn’t afford to surrender an early goal to Atleti but they did just that. Diego Costa fought off two defender in the 6th minute and fired a shot past Beto to give the visitors an early lead and an away goal.
In the 29th minute Atletico Madrid added a second when Radamel Falcao one-timed a shot into the bottom right corner off a cross from Costa.
Down 4-1 on aggregate nobody would have begrudged Sevilla for closing up shop but to their credit they fought back.
Six minutes before halftime Jesús Navas got free at the post and hammered home a cross delivered by Jose Antonio Reyes from a tough angle. Sevilla should have scored another three minutes later but Ivan Rakitic couldn't finished a pass from Gary Medel despite being unmarked. Rakitic's header soared wide and the match went to the break 2-1.
Atleti goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois denied Sevilla in the 53rd minute stonewalling Alvaro Negredo's attempt to even the score. Costa followed that up missing a chance of his own, sending his close range shot just wide of the post.
Sevilla pushed again in the second half but Alvaro Negredo was denied after 53 minutes by a parried save from visiting goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois.
Moments later Costa should have put the match beyond doubt for Atletico but he failed to make the most of his chance from a few yards out and, under pressure from a defender, poked a shot wide of the left post.
Things got much tougher for Sevilla in the 76th minute when Medel was yellow carded and then quickly shown a red card for arguing with the referee over his initial decision.
Sevilla's evening took a further turn for the worse after 76 minutes when Medel was shown first a yellow card and then a red for dissent.
In stoppage time Rakitic scored to even the match at 2-2 but it was too little, too late for the home side.
The match finished on a sour note when Sevilla’s Geoffrey Kondogbia was shown a straight red in the 93rd minute for a stamp on Costa.
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