sevilla outclass ten-man freiburg published: thursday 3 october 2013, 21.45cet
sevilla fc 2-0 sc freiburg
diego perotti's penalty and a late carlos bacca effort ensured that the spanish side ended the night top of group h.
by graham hunter from estadio ramón sánchez pizjuán
sevilla fc's sixth straight win in uefa club competition put them firmly in charge of uefa europa league group h, a second-half penalty converted by diego perotti and a late flourish from carlos bacca securing a 2-0 triumph against sc freiburg.
perotti kept his cool to beat oliver baumann from the spot on 63 minutes after central defender fallou diagné was dismissed for a foul on bacca in the box, but the colombian striker was to have his name on the scoresheet by the end of the night following unselfish work from jairo samperio.
unai emery's team took time to build to a convincing match tempo, but when they did they left the german visitors struggling to keep pace with an increasingly clever and inventive performance.
that culminated in a breakaway sparked by ivan rakitić just after the hour. the croatian had given evidence all night that he is a footballing equivalent of an nfl quarter-back – finding pockets of space and using them to launch long, searching passes. this one found the perfectly timed breakaway of bacca, who sprinted through on goal with one intention. however, he was tugged back by diagné, and perotti stepped up to give the hosts the lead.
rakitić it had been who also conjured up the previous best opportunity, which diogo figueiras so nearly turned into a goal having cut round one defender before mistakenly opting to pass instead of shoot.
substitute marko marin and bacca both came thrillingly close to chipping baumann as the flow of traffic was exclusively one-way towards the end, bacca's effort hitting the bar. samperio's breakaway then left the no17 with the chance of scoring, but instead he calmly slipped a pass to his right and bacca found recompense for a night of hard running and total assurance by burying the ball with his right foot.
