Sevilla sink Betis

Image: Sevilla players celebrate

Dominant Sevilla put 10-man Real Betis to the sword to win a one-sided Seville derby 4-0 on Sunday night.

Dominant Sevilla put 10-man Real Betis to the sword to win a one-sided Seville derby 4-0 on Sunday night. Colombian striker Carlos Bacca was the star of a fiery contest at the Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan, scoring the opener after two minutes and creating a wonderful third for Vitolo in the second half. But in between times Betis gave their local rivals a huge helping hand. The sending off of key centre-back Paulao in the 42nd minute when 1-0 down for two quickfire, and needless, yellow cards made their task more difficult. And that mistake was compounded when Stephane Mbia headed a soft second goal immediately. Vicente Iborra headed home the fourth in the 88th minute. The win moved Sevilla up to eighth, but Betis remained rooted to the foot of the Primera Division table. Sevilla got off to the ideal start as Bacca put them ahead in only the second minute. The striker ran on to a lobbed through-ball from Jose Antonio Reyes, chesting the ball away from the last defender and prodding a finish past Guillermo Sara. Jorge Molina Vidal headed wide from a Juanfran cross for Betis and Nono went even closer with a fine shot from 20 yards which came back off a post. But the visitors shot themselves in the foot late in the first half. Minutes after picking up a booking for dissent, Paulao pulled down Reyes 30 yards from goal. He knew his fate even before the red card came out. And the hosts rubbed salt into the wounds as Ivan Rakitic swung in the resulting free-kick and Mbia headed home the second goal. Sara was at fault, making a complete mess of what should have been a routine save by letting the header, which was straight at him, slip through his hands and into the goal. With emotions running high, tempers threatened to boil over on the stroke of half-time, with Nono and Reyes squaring up and both seeing yellow. Early in the second half Bacca shot wide, but he was at the heart of the third goal which did arrive in the 59th minute. Betis failed to clear their lines, the ball falling to Bacca, who turned and clipped an expertly-weighted pass into Vitolo. Vitolo chested it into his path and rounded Sara before squeezing his finish into the net from a tight angle. Vitolo should have added a fourth after Iborra's header came back off a post and fell perfectly for him 12 yards out, but he sliced his effort high and wide. Sevilla could afford to miss such chances, though, with Betis' task now one of damage limitation. And the hosts thought they had another only for Federico Fazio's header to be rightly ruled out for offside. Instead it was Iborra who got number four, glancing home Rakitic's corner from the right to complete a comprehensive win.
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