Real Betis 1-2 Sevilla: Sampaoli's men go joint top of La Liga

Sevilla moved joint top of La Liga with Real Madrid after beating rivals Real Betis in the city’s derby.

They turned a poor performance around, capitalising on the hosts’ tiredness after they had expended all their energy on shutting down Sevilla.

Real Betis dominated the first half entirely and came close to scoring when Mandi’s header struck the bar, with the visitors unable to escape their own half due to heavy pressing.

Eventually they made the breakthrough when Steven N’Zonzi committed a foul and Riza Durmisi curled the free-kick home, through the wall as Mandi stepped out to leave him a space.

Sevilla levelled against the run of play early in the second half, when Samir Nasri’s free kick fell perfectly for Vicente Iborra, whose header was repelled by Antonio Adan, but it fell for Gabriel Mercado to ram home from close range.

And the comeback was completed when Vicente Iborra took advantage of another set piece in the 75th minute, Nasri whipped the ball in brilliantly, N’Zonzi flicked it on and the Spanish midfielder nudged the ball past the goalkeeper.