Athletic lose a man on 11 minutes, then spend 79 more chasing Sevilla

Eleven minutes into Athletic Club's season, Yuri Berchiche fouled Miguel Sierra and was shown a red card. Everything else followed from that.

Oso put Sevilla ahead four minutes later. Chidera Ejuke made it two on 50, Isaac Romero three on 57, and Aitor Paredes' goal on 70 was a consolation rather than a comeback.

The ten men had the ball; the eleven had the goals

This is the strange part. Athletic, a man down for 79 minutes, finished with 65% possession, 18 shots to Sevilla's seven, 10 corners to three and 1.25 expected goals to 0.41. Sevilla's goalkeeper made six saves.

Sevilla defended deep, cleared 46 times, and took their chances: four shots on target, three goals. Two matches, two wins, and a 90+7 penalty against Rayo the week before — this is not a team winning things comfortably, but it is a team winning them.

Match facts

• 11' — Yuri Berchiche (Athletic Club) sent off
• 15' — Oso (Sevilla)
• 50' — Chidera Ejuke (Sevilla)
• 57' — Isaac Romero (Sevilla)
• 70' — Aitor Paredes (Athletic Club)

What's next

Sevilla end matchday 2 top of LaLiga on six points, the only side in Spain with a perfect record. Athletic start theirs on zero, with a suspension to serve and a performance that was better than the scoreline suggests.

Athletic's response since San Mamés

Athletic did not let the red card define their season. They lost again four days later, 0-2 away to Barcelona on matchday 2, but then won back-to-back matches: 2-0 at Celta Vigo on matchday 3 and, more strikingly, 3-0 at home to Atlético Madrid on matchday 4 — a game in which Atlético had almost two-thirds of the ball and still left San Mamés with nothing. Draws against Elche (1-1) and Alavés (0-0) followed, both at home, with matchday 6 against Levante postponed rather than played. Athletic go into their next fixture ninth in LaLiga on 8 points from six games — two wins, two draws and two losses, seven scored and six conceded — with the Levante game still to come.

Sevilla's perfect start cools off

Sevilla's unbeaten run lasted one more matchday. Atlético Madrid beat them 3-1 at the Sánchez-Pizjuán on matchday 3, Álex Baena scoring twice inside the first 33 minutes before Miguel Sierra's volley made it respectable. Sevilla drew 1-1 away to Espanyol on matchday 4, playing the last half hour with ten men after a red card of their own, then strung together three straight wins — 1-0 over Valencia, 1-0 away at Deportivo La Coruña, and a run that had them back among the division's early pace-setters — before Barcelona beat them 1-3 at the Sánchez-Pizjuán on matchday 7. Both of Sevilla's defeats this season have come against the two clubs that finished that round first and second in the table.

Where the table stands now

Seven-plus matchdays into the season, the two sides that met at San Mamés sit apart. Sevilla are fifth on 13 points from seven games, inside this season's five-team Champions League zone — the extra European place LaLiga earned through the association's coefficient — and two points clear of sixth-placed Alavés, who occupy the Europa League spot. Athletic Club are ninth on 8 points from six games, in mid-table between those European places and the relegation zone that starts at 18th, still with a game in hand to play against Levante. On the season's only meeting between them so far, Sevilla hold the head-to-head — a result built in the eleven minutes before Berchiche's red card even had time to change anything.