Seville recovered after missing an early penalty to defeat leaders Atlético Madrid 1-0 on Sunday evening, and revived Barcelona and Real Madrid's hopes of winning the Spanish Football League title.
Atletico goalkeeper Jan Oblak saved a penalty for the second match in a row, when he prevented Lucas Ocampos from scoring in the eighth minute.
The giant "Oblac" saves "Atletico Madrid" from the goal of progressing to "Seville" after tackling the "Ocampos" penalty ⛔👐 # SevillaFCAtleti #LaLigaSantander pic.twitter.com/1XMWQQPXWm
- LaLiga (@LaLigaArab) April 4, 2021
And Joan Jordan, the Seville player, hit the crossbar minutes later, at the start of the fire for the hosts, while the visiting team looked shaky.
Seville finally found the way to the net in the 70th minute with a header from left-back Marcos Acuña, after a cross from the other back Jess Navas, and the referee ignored Atletico's complaints that Ocampos had touched the ball with his hand at the start of the attack.
Delight ¡@ AcunaMarcos17 After scoring the progression goal 💥⚽ # LaLigaFanCam # SevillaFCAtleti # LaLigaSantander pic.twitter.com/3ZAHpLtHs0
- LaLiga (@LaLigaArab) April 4, 2021
Atletico remain at the top with 66 points, but third-placed Barcelona can narrow the gap to one point if they beat home to Valladolid on Monday.
Conflict rages in #LaLigaSantander 🔥🔥🔥
Who will be the champion of the league?
✍🏆 pic.twitter.com/ejQT41YGIK
- LaLiga (@LaLigaArab) April 4, 2021
Real Madrid are in second place with 63 points, after their 2-0 victory over Eibar at home on Saturday.
Atletico escaped with a 1-0 win over struggling Alaves in the previous match thanks to Oblak's late penalty save, but he looked helpless in the attack again, and barely threatened Moroccan goalkeeper Yassine Bono in the first half.
He missed a dangerous opportunity moments after Akunia's goal, when Marcos Llorente passed to Mario Hermoso unmarked inside the penalty area, but the defender fired over the crossbar.
Striker Angel Correa had another chance to equalize in the final minutes, but Bono aborted the danger.
@ Bonoyass 📛 # SevillaFCAtleti #LaLigaSantander pic.twitter.com/fCvMubUyvH
- LaLiga (@LaLigaArab) April 4, 2021
The situation worsened Atletico, with their top scorer Luis Suarez and Llorente receiving a yellow card, leaving the duo to miss Real Betis' visit next week.