Sevilla loses ground after home draw with Villarreal

A missed penalty. A goal disallowed for offside. An inspired goalkeeper.

It all led to another disappointing setback for Sevilla, which was held by Villarreal to a scoreless draw at home yesterday and missed a chance to move closer to the Spanish league lead.

Samir Nasri failed from the penalty spot in the 49th minute, Wissam Ben Yedder had his goal disallowed for offside in the 59th, and Vicente Iborra’s close-range header was brilliantly saved by Villarreal goalkeeper Sergio Asenjo in the 82nd, keeping Sevilla from being able to gain much ground atop the standings.

The result left Sevilla in third place with 43 points, two behind Barcelona and four behind leader Real Madrid. Barcelona defeated Athletic Bilbao 3-0 on Saturday, while Madrid had yesterday’s game at Celta Vigo postponed because of wind damage to Celta’s Balaidos’ Stadium. Madrid will have two games in hand over Barcelona and Sevilla after this weekend’s matches.

Sevilla was coming off a 3-1 loss at Espanyol, a result that halted its five-game winning streak in the league, which revived its hopes of contending for the title.

Villarreal, which lost only once in its last eight games, stayed in fifth place with 35 points, four behind Atletico Madrid, which beat Leganes 2-0 on Saturday at its Vicente Calderon Stadium.

The league was yet to set a date for the match between Celta and Madrid, which had to be called off after Vigo officials said they could not guarantee the “safety of spectators and players” after winds tore off parts of the roof at Balaidos Stadium.

Yesterday Sevilla-Villarreal ................................ 0-0 Sp. Gijon-Alaves ................................ 2-4 R. Sociedad-Osasuna ........................ 3-2 Celta Vigo-Real Madrid ......... postponed Today Granada-Las Palmas ............................... Real Madrid Barcelona Sevilla At. Madrid R. Sociedad Villarreal Eibar Espanyol Ath. Bilbao Celta Vigo Las Palmas Alaves Betis Malaga D. La Coruna Valencia Leganes Sp. Gijon Osasuna Granada P 19 21 21 21 21 21 21 21 21 20 20 21 20 21 20 20 21 21 21 20 W 14 13 13 11 12 9 9 8 9 9 7 6 6 5 4 5 4 3 1 1

Standings

D L F A Pts 4 1 51 17 46 6 2 55 18 45 4 4 43 28 43 6 4 36 16 39 2 7 34 30 38 8 4 28 14 35 5 7 32 29 32 8 5 29 27 32 5 7 26 25 32 3 8 31 33 30 7 6 31 31 28 9 6 21 22 27 5 9 21 31 23 7 9 28 35 22 7 9 25 32 19 4 11 29 40 19 6 11 15 35 18 4 14 22 43 13 7 13 23 46 10 7 12 16 44 10