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Madrid through, Seivlla suffer home loss in Champions League

Xinhua, November 23, 2016 Adjust font size:

The 10-man Sevilla slipped to a 3-1 home defeat to Juventus in the hard-fought Champions League tie on Tuesday night.

Sevilla had to play for 55 minutes with 10 men after Fran Vazquez was sent off. Despite a brave performance, they just failed to hold on against the Italian champions, who have assured their place in the next round.

Nico Pareja put Sevilla ahead in the 10th minute with a right foot volley from the edge of the Juventus penalty area following a corner kick.

Juventus saw Mario Mandzukic fire wide in their best early chance but their task was made a lot easier in the 36th minute when Fran Vazquez was sent off after being shown his second yellow card in just five minutes.

The Italian side drew level from the penalty spot on the stroke of halftime when referee Mark Clattenburg rightly penalized Gabriel Mercado pulled back Leonardo Bonucci at a corner for Claudio Marchisio to beat Sergio Rico, who got a touch on the ball, with a low shot.

Sevilla replaced striker Luciano Vietto with midfielder Pablo Sarabia at halftime to compensate for Vazquez's loss, but Juventus looked to force home their numerical advantage.

The Spanish side defended bravely until the 85th minute when Bonucci scored a low shot from outside of the area.

The goal and an injury time strike from Mandzukic means Sevilla drop to second in their group but they will still qualify for the last 16 if they avoid defeat by more than one goal in their final group game away to Olympique Lyon.

Elsewhere Real Madrid made hard work of their trip to Sporting Lisbon, bouncing back to earth following their win against local rivals Atletico at the weekend with another poor display.

Goals from Rafael Varene and Karim Benzama, whose winning goal came 3 minutes from time, saw Madrid qualify for the last 16 against a rival that equalized 10 minutes from time despite playing 25 minutes with 10 men after Joao Pereira was sent off. However, Zinedine Zidane's side will have to beat Borussia Dortmund in their last game in order to assure they finish as winners of their group. Endit