Can you hear the drums, Fernando: Sevilla triumph on silent return

Sevilla are breaking the rules already but who can blame them? The leaflet of instructions handed to every club on the eve of La Liga returning to action insists “players should avoid or minimise physical contact with celebrations”, yet when the time finally came they couldn’t help themselves, a pile of players building in the corner before an empty stand where euphoria would normally erupt. There was still almost half an hour left in the Seville derby, Spain’s first game back, but a second goal had secured a victory over Real Betis, the team they most like to beat at the Ramón Sánchez Pizjuán.

They had waited a long time for this, and it was wonderful too. Lucas Ocampos had opened the scoring from a debatable penalty soon after half time and now they had a brilliant second. It was scored by Fernando, who couldn’t hear the drums but could hear his teammates roaring right in his ear, a dozen voices echoing round. Four first-time touches from a short corner concluded with a clever back heel from Ocampos and Fernando’s glancing header.

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from Football | The Guardian https://bit.ly/2MRZYt2