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.
Ninety-three days later, Spanish football was back and Sevilla had a deserved victory on a night that was always likely to feel a little strange. We will get used to it, but after three months away attention was always likely to be turned as much on how it looked and how it felt as how they played. By the end, it felt good for Sevilla. At the final whistle, the hugely impressive Ocampos, who had been withdrawn to a smattering of applause, pulled off his mask and leapt on to Luuk de Jong’s back. “We dedicated this to the fans who couldn’t be here,” he said.
At the start, the teams came out in single file, substitutes making their way to the stands in gloves and masks, occupying a handful of rows and sitting apart as the starters made their way to the pitch – a walk that looked a little lonely without the roar that is supposed to accompany them, especially on a night like this. Giant lettering spelt out EL GRAN DERBI but there was little of what makes this game grand. “It’s a historic derby; there will probably never be one like this,” the Real Betis manager, Rubi, had said, and everyone hoped he was right.
As the teams emerged and headed to their own half, no handshake and no posing for pictures, Sevilla’s anthem played – recorded in advance and ringing around the wide, red space. There was a minute’s silence before the game and then 90 minutes silence during it. Unless you were on the other channel, where Spanish TV offered recorded sound and computer-generated fans, who didn’t move much, more multicoloured backdrop than hardcore ultras.
There was a game at least and it was good too, the pace quicker than might have been feared, the intensity announced by an early encounter between Sergio Reguilón and Emerson down by the corner flag. There was a shout when the Sevilla goalkeeper Tomas Vaclik picked the ball up, suspiciously near the edge of his area, but most of what unfolded did so at the other end. A Sergio Canales shot that did not trouble Vaclik was all that Betis produced in the opening 45 minutes.
Ocampos and Munir El Haddadi especially impressed, as Sevilla opened out the pitch and moved on to the front foot. Ocampos’s shot from a tight angle on nine minutes could be heard as it hit the bar and more chances followed. Jules Koundé headed just wide at the near post, more alone from the corner than he had realised. Luuk de Jong, too, headed past the post, this time supplied by Munir’s superb ball from the left.
Just before half time, De Jong turned superbly and spread the ball to Ocampos, whose shot thudded against Joel’s palms. Just after it, Jordan couldn’t get his shot off, deep inside the area. And then, ten minutes later Mateu Lahoz – welcome back to Spain’s box office referee – saw something in a crowd of jumping players and blew for a penalty. Replays showed that Marc Bartra might have had enough of a forearm in De Jong’s to justify the decision, or at least to prevent the VAR overruling it. “Incredible,” Bartra called it.
Ocampos scored and raced to the corner, while a sound engineer pressed the button marked “cheer”. He was followed by teammates, but not engulfed. That reticence, though, soon evaporated with a wonderful second.
Betis did react. Diego Lainez showed flashes of quality, Emerson putting one shot wide and Joaquín seeing another blocked, but they had waited too long. Everyone else had waited three months and now, at last, the football is back.