Sevilla sinks Osasuna behind goals from Isaac Romero and Felix Correia

Isaac Romero took the ball outside the box, settled himself and ripped a left-footed shot that snuck in low, right along the left post. It was the 23rd minute and the Sanchez-Pizjuan erupted: that goal ended up being the opening margin in a 2-0 final that Sevilla sealed with a second goal from Felix Correia late in the match. With the result, the Sevilla side took home all three points in a LaLiga match in which, despite seeing less of the ball, it was the more incisive team.

The numbers stand out: Osasuna controlled 55.3% of possession to Sevilla's 44.7%, yet it was the home side that generated the more dangerous chances. Seventeen shots to ten, and especially seven shots on target to just two for the Navarrese club, make clear that Sevilla knew how to be more direct with less of the ball.

A first half decided by a shot from distance

Osasuna started the better of the two sides on the field, with early warnings from Ante Budimir and a headed effort from Enzo Boyomo that drifted wide to the left. Sevilla answered with attempts from Isaac Romero and Felix Correia, and in between there was end to end play without much clarity. But in the 23rd minute, the play that changed everything arrived: Youssouf Fofana set up Romero, who finished left-footed from outside the box to make it 1-0.

The rest of the first half brought chances for both sides (Chidera Ejuke and Andres Castrin tried their luck for Sevilla, Moi Gomez and Budimir for Osasuna), but the score held until the break.

Correia seals it on the counter

In the second half, Sevilla kept pressing. Juan Iglesias rattled the left post with a shot in the 69th minute, and Kike Salas and Manu Bueno had their own chances that Aitor Fernandez, the opposing goalkeeper, managed to stop. Osasuna, with Jagoba Arrasate turning to fresh legs off the bench (Raul Moro, Raul Garcia and later Kike Barja, among others, came on), couldn't do much to trouble the Sevilla goal.

The clincher came in the 81st minute: a well-worked counterattack ended with Fofana setting up a teammate again, this time finding Felix Correia, who finished right-footed from inside the box to make it a final 2-0. In stoppage time, Osasuna had its best spell of the match trying to respond, with shots from Raul Garcia, Budimir and Alejandro Catena that ran into solid goalkeeping, but the scoreline didn't change again.

By the numbers

The estimated xG based on the match's shots backs up what was seen on the field: 0.93 for Sevilla against 0.75 for Osasuna, a narrow gap that doesn't fully capture the edge in clear-cut chances the home side had on the way to the final score.

Before kickoff, our projection gave Sevilla a 42% chance of winning, against 30% for Osasuna and 28% for a draw, with expected goals of 1.56 for the home side and 1.28 for the visitors. The result lined up with what those numbers favored, though Osasuna failed to reach even one of the two goals projected for its attack.

What it means in the standings

Heading into this match, Sevilla sat sixth with 17 points through 10 matchdays, while Osasuna was 12th with 11 points and a goal difference of minus 10. The gap between the two sides before this match was six points, and the win lets Sevilla pad that cushion over a rival still searching for consistency in this start to LaLiga.