MADRID.- Luka Modric made the Santiago Bernabéu stadium explode with joy while his teammates hugged him after hitting the Real Madrid a dramatic 1-0 victory over Sevilla in the Spanish League on Sunday.
Modric came on as a substitute in the 75th minute and, six minutes later, he took a superb shot from the crescent into the back of the net after hitting a post.
With the quick victory, the meringues consolidated themselves at the top of the League by having 65 points, eight ahead of Barcelona, which beat Getafe 4-0 on Saturday. Girona, which has 56 points, could regain second place with a victory on Monday against Rayo Vallecano.
“Persistence is one of our strengths, we never stop, we insist, we create and we look for it until the end,” said Modric. “We knew that today we couldn’t miss the points, because Barcelona had gotten very close and we couldn’t allow”.
Sevilla saw a streak of four days without defeats broken to remain in 15th position with 24 points, six above the relegation zone.
After scoring his second goal of the championship, Modric climbed on one of the advertising billboards to shout the goal, looking at the stands while his teammates carried him and hugged him.
The Croatian star has been relegated this season to a secondary role after losing his starting position and it has begun to be said that his future in the team is uncertain.
Real Madrid found the way:
Madrid righted this duel, in which a goal by Lucas Vázquez was disallowed before 10 minutes had passed, after referee Isidro Díaz de Mera assessed in the video replay a foul by Nacho Fernández at the beginning of the play.
After that action the game got stuck for Madrid, who had their best options with Federico Valverde. The Uruguayan midfielder first attempted a long shot that was deflected by goalkeeper Orjan Nyland in the replacement before the break. Then, in the first minutes of the complement, he crashed a shot into the base of the post.
At the other end, Lunin avoided the fall of his frame with a superb deflection with his leg from a free shot by Isaac Romero, in one of the few options for the Seville team during the complement.
The fourth referee Carlos Fernández replaced Díaz de Mera for the last half hour after the main referee suffered an ankle injury that made him leave the field.
Before the start of the match, the stands recognized former merengue captain Sergio Ramos, who returned to the Santiago Bernabéu stadium field as a Sevilla player.
Ramos spent 16 years with Madrid, winning 22 titles, of which there were four Champions Leagues.
Source: AP
