Sevilla beats Valencia 2-0

Stephane Mbia and Carlos Bacca scored within four minutes of each other as Sevilla beat Valencia 2-0 in the first leg of an all-Spanish Europa League semifinal on Thursday.

With his back to goal, Mbia backheeled Ivan Rakitic’s bouncing free kick over goalkeeper Victor Guaita for the opener after 33 minutes.

Sevilla ‘keeper Beto denied late Valencia substitute Jonas from point-blank in the 87th to preserve the advantage, then Eduardo Vargas headed off the crossbar as Valencia nearly scored a valuable away goal.

Valencia was fortunate to only be two goals down after the first leg after it failed to produce any concrete opportunities while relying on Guaita for important stops.

“We’re strong at home and we can come back from this,” said Valencia forward Pablo Alcacer, who will miss the return after being booked for trying to avoid contact with Beto, who stuck his leg out at the Valencia midfielder in the closing moments.