Nemanja Gudelj scored one of the goals of the season to earn Sevilla a 1-0 win at Mallorca on Saturday in La Liga, their first in seven games across all competitions.
New coach Jorge Sampaoli had the Serbian defensive midfielder and goalkeeper Bono to thank for the three points at the Visit Mallorca stadium.
Gudelj, over 30 yards out and with few other options, arrowed a powerful strike into the top left corner after 53 minutes to help Sevilla rise provisionally to 13th.
Morocco international Bono made a brilliant save to deny Mallorca forward Abdon Prats in the sixth minute and crucially was quick off his line to keep out Angel Rodriguez in the final stages.
Sampaoli had drawn the first two matches of his second spell at the helm, against Athletic Bilbao in the top flight and Borussia Dortmund in the Champions League.
Sevilla sat back and successfully defended their advantage for most of the second half, earning only their second victory of the campaign after nine games.
“I had the feeling I had hit it well and when it went in, I was happy,” said Gudelj, after scoring what was his first goal for Sevilla.
“It’s great to score a goal for this club. The most happy I am is that we won today, we dominated.”
Mallorca, without suspended towering striker Vedat Muriqi, have started the season well after only narrowly avoiding relegation last season and sit 12th on nine points.
AFP
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