Alavés 1 - Sevilla 0

Alavés: Dutruel; Geli, Karmona, Abelardo, Llorens; Turiel, Pablo; Astudillo, Jordi Cruyff, Ibon Begoña (Magno 60'); Iván Alonso (Rubén Navarro 75'). 4-2-3-1.
Sevilla: Notario; Alfonso, Javi Navarro, Pablo Alfaro, David; Redondo (Gallardo 70'), Marcos Vales, Samways, Fredi; Antoñito (Moisés 46'), Reyes (Víctor Salas 60'). 4-4-2.

Team changes: Alavés: Geli, Karmona, Turiel, Pablo for Edu Alonso, Téllez, Luis Helguera, Ilie / Sevilla: Redondo for Casquero.

Goals:
1-0. 91. Rubén Navarro. Lifted high volley into net from edge of area.

A spectacular injury time strike by substitute Rubén Navarro was enough to give Alavés a 1-0 win over Sevilla and take them out of the bottom three. The Vitoria based side have not been having their best season, but despite scraping a last minute draw in their UEFA cup tie against Besiktas on Thursday evening, Mané decided not to make any drastic changes.

He did however leave out his argumentative central defender Téllez, bringing in his captain Karmona in the back four as well as Geli, replacing the injured Edu Alonso. Caparrós for his part decided not to include Gallardo in the starting line up, his young winger not very welcome in the Mendizorroza stadium after a controversial match a year ago which the visitors won by a single goal.

In fact Alavés had not won against Sevilla in the first division since the 1955/6 season, and as the game wore on it appeared they would at least have to wait another year. Both sides appeared to be afraid of losing, and there were virtually no scoring chances as the visitors set up a defensive wall from early on and hardly set foot in their opponents half throughout the match.

Iván Alonso was the only one to go close a couple of times, but it seemed that the points would be shared when Pablo lined up to take a last minute free kick. The ball was cleared to the edge of the area, but Navarro produced a spectacular high volley which left Notario stranded. It signalled a first home victory of the season in the league for Alavés, and they rise up five places to fourteenth. Sevilla now drop below their rivals, and only avoid the relegation zone thanks to a better goal average than Espanyol.