EDITORIAL | EFE
Real Murcia won by coming from behind to score 1-2 with a double from Pedro León Sánchez against Sevilla Atlético in the first league match in group 2 of the Primera RFEF football league. Murcia won at the Jesús Navas stadium in the José Ramón Cisneros Palacios sports city, where a hundred fans of the granas celebrated the first three points earned by their team this season.
The start of the Fran Fernández era in the third consecutive year pursuing the goal of promotion to LaLiga Hypermotion started well. The Almería coach, signed after the departure of Pablo Alfaro, presented a line-up with five new faces – the Italian-Argentine goalkeeper Gianfranco Gazzaniga, the defenders David Vicente, Antxón Jaso and Kike Cadete and the Spanish-Venezuelan midfielder Jorge Yriarte.
With these signings and six players still in the squad, the match started in the worst possible way, conceding a goal with just two minutes gone. Mateo Mejía, with a low shot in front of the passivity of the Murcia defence, which allowed the local striker to make his way, scored the 1-0 with an assist from Manu Bueno.
However, the team from the capital of Segura reacted and a penalty committed by Darío Benavides for holding Alberto González, who was going to finish off a cross from Pedro León after a free kick, led to the equaliser.
Pedro León himself equalised from the 11-metre mark in the 18th minute, despite Alberto Flores guessing where he shot but not reaching the ball. The veteran player from Mula, aged 37, was providential, he showed mastery and in another arrival in the area he showed his undoubted class by deceiving a defender and the Sevilla goalkeeper to turn the score around in the 29th minute.
From then on and until the middle of the second half, Fran Fernández’s team controlled the situation quite well in a hostile atmosphere, as the home fans demanded a penalty just before the score was 1-2 and from then on put even more pressure on the referee.
The Granas, however, knew how to interpret the match and in the 68th minute the fact that Sevilla Atlético was left with one less player made their task easier. Diego Hormigo was sent off for committing a foul on Pedro Benito when he was going towards goal. In the free kick, taken by Pedro Benito himself, Ibra Sow committed a penalty for handball when he was on the barrier inside the area. The penalty, with Pedro León already off the pitch, was taken very poorly by José Ángel Carrillo, who sent the ball over the crossbar.
The match is not over yet and, in fact, the Sevilla reserve team had a great chance through Pablo Sierra, whose shot was not scored due to Gazzaniga’s great response in the 88th minute of a match in which three other players signed this summer participated – Juan Carlos Real and the Argentine Esteban Saveljich, in addition to the aforementioned Pedro Benito – and the youth team players Antonio Toral and Héctor Pérez also came onto the pitch.
Alberto González was sent off for Murcia with two yellow cards in the 95th minute, and will miss next Sunday’s match against Yeclano through suspension.
