Captain Iborra fires Sevilla to derby win
SEVILLE: Sevilla captain Vicente Iborra came off the bench to lead his side to a second-half comeback at fierce local rivals Real Betis on Saturday, assisting and scoring in a 2-1 win to provisionally take Jorge Sampaoli's side joint-top of La Liga.
The visitors looked to be suffering a hangover from their Champions League win over Leicester City on Wednesday as they were outrun in the first half by Betis, who took a deserved lead in the 36th minute from a free kick by Riza Durmisi.
Sampaoli made a double substitution at the start of the second half, bringing on Iborra and striker Wissam Ben Yedder, and it was Iborra who set up the equaliser for Gabriel Mercado in the 56th minute, allowing the Argentine defender to stab the ball in from close range.
Sevilla then found the winner in the 76th minute. Steven Nzonzi headed Samir Nasri's free kick on for Iborra to knock into the top corner and seal Sevilla's fourth straight win in all competitions.
They are now second in the standings, level on 52 points with leaders Real Madrid, who have two games in hand and visit Villarreal on Sunday. Champions Barcelona are third on 51 points and play their game in hand of Sevilla at Atletico Madrid on Sunday.
