Sevilla Takes Lead in La Liga With Win Over Valladolid
MADRID (AP) A day after seeing its rivals falter, Sevilla took care of business.
Sevilla moved past Atletico Madrid and Barcelona to go top of the Spanish league by beating Valladolid 1-0 on Sunday.
Atletico and Barcelona had played to a 1-1 draw on Saturday, opening the way for Sevilla to take the lead with a home win.
Sevilla also benefited from setbacks by other teams near the top of the standings. Alaves had a chance to go top on Friday but lost 1-0 at Leganes, while Real Madrid is sixth after a shock 3-0 defeat at Eibar on Saturday. That result ended the team's perfect run under coach Santiago Solari and left the Spanish powerhouse six points off the lead.
Sevilla, which had already led the league after the eighth round, has 26 points from 13 matches, one point more than Barcelona and two more than Atletico. Fourth-place Alaves is three points back.
Looking to avoid its own setback, Sevilla controlled the match from the start at Ramon Sanchez-Pizjuan Stadium. It didn't create many significant scoring chances but was always closest to scoring.
Andre Silva got the winner with a 30th-minute header after a well-placed cross by Pablo Sarabia, giving Sevilla its seventh straight home win in all competitions. It was the eighth league goal for the Portuguese forward who hadn't scored for Sevilla in five matches.
Valladolid had a 74th-minute goal disallowed for offside, and its biggest chance was a stoppage-time shot by substitute Enes Unal that forced a difficult save by Sevilla goalkeeper Tomas Vaclik.
The team owned by former Brazil striker Ronaldo hasn't won in two matches and dropped to 12th.
