Leganes salvage draw with Sevilla keeper’s mistake

MADRID: Leganes boosted their chances of reaching the Spanish King’s Cup final for the first time by salvaging a 1-1 draw against Sevilla, netting the equaliser after a mistake by Sevilla goalkeeper Sergio Rico.

Sevilla opened the scoring in the first leg through Luis Muriel after a counter-attack midway through the first half at Butarque Stadium, before the hosts evened the match shortly after half-time.

Rico missed the ball while trying to punch it away just in front of goal, allowing defender Dimitrios Siovas to easily find the net with a header.

“The equaliser changed the game,” Sevilla coach Vincenzo Montella said. “Everything was more compli- cated after the goal.”

The ball went high in the air after being headed by a defender inside the area and Rico seemed to have plenty of time as it came down near the goal line.

But the goalkeeper complained of a foul after apparent contact with Siovas and unsuccessfully appealed to the referee.

“I don’t know if it was a foul or if it was a mistake,” Montella said. “We have to remember that Rico also made some good saves.”

Leganes, a club based just south of Madrid, eliminated Real Madrid in the quarter-finals.

They had never reached the last eight of the King’s Cup in the team’s 89-year history.

Sevilla – five-time King’s Cup winners – are trying to return to the final for the first time since they were beaten by Barcelona in 2016. — AP