Club Challenge: Sevilla win the trophy against Independiente del Valle

First edition of the match that pits the winners of the second UEFA and Conmebol competitions up against each other: 1-1 in the 90th minute, then the Andalusians prevail 4-1 from the penalty spot

Salvatore Malfitano

The usual Seville, one might say, even in July. Mendilibar’s team goes down, draws and wins on penalties, according to a script already seen and revised. At the expense this time it is Independiente del Valle, an Ecuadorian team that won the Copa Sudamericana, obtaining the right to play the Club Challenge. A newly born competition, which pits the winners of the two minor competitions of Uefa and Conmebol against each other, for the occasion merged with the Antonio Puerta trophy. In fact, in any case, the Andalusians had the upper hand in the first semi-serious test of the season: the match was decided by penalties (4-1) after a 1-1 draw in regular time, with Papu Gomez scoring the final .

the match

After the minute of silence observed for Puerta, with the suggestive response of Sanchez Pitzjuan, the first conclusion is from Papu Gomez, rejected by the goalkeeper. In the 9th minute the episode that unlocks the match: Salas loses a bad ball, Diaz takes advantage of it and beats Dmitrovic. Independiente compacted well after the lead and until the interval there was little to report. The pressure from the Andalusians rises in the second half, Torres and Ortiz make themselves dangerous, but find fulfillment only in full recovery: Idrissi’s cross, a deflection puts the defense out of action and this time Ortiz hits the target for an equaliser. It goes directly to penalties, where Faravelli and Moreno miss among the South Americans, smoothing the success of Sevilla.



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