Down a goal, then down a man: Sevilla win it from the spot at 90+7

Four minutes in, 36,777 people at the Ramón Sánchez-Pizjuán were watching Álvaro García celebrate. Rayo Vallecano had the lead in the opening match of Sevilla's season, and they held it for most of an hour.

Jon Guridi levelled from the penalty spot on 52 minutes. That is where the game sat, and where Sevilla's evening got harder.

Ten men, and then a penalty in the 97th minute

Kike Salas was sent off on 88 minutes. Seven minutes into stoppage time, with Sevilla a man down and the match apparently heading for a draw, they won a second penalty. Peque Fernández took it. 2-1.

The stats say how tight this was rather than how one-sided: Rayo actually had slightly more of the ball, both sides committed 18 fouls, both picked up four yellow cards, and both passed at 73% accuracy. Sevilla had 13 shots to Rayo's six and won it with two of the three penalty-box moments that mattered.

Match facts

• 4' — Álvaro García (Rayo Vallecano)
• 52' — Jon Guridi (Sevilla), penalty
• 88' — Kike Salas (Sevilla) sent off
• 90+7' — Peque Fernández (Sevilla), penalty

Seven matchdays on, Sevilla sit inside the Champions League places

That opening-day penalty turned into a launchpad rather than a one-off. Sevilla followed it with a 3-1 win away at Athletic Club a week later, then lost 1-3 at home to Atlético Madrid, drew 1-1 away at Espanyol, beat Valencia 1-0 at home, won 1-0 away at Deportivo, and were beaten 1-3 at home by Barcelona on 19 September. Add it up and it is four wins, one draw and two losses from seven matches — 13 points, 10 goals scored, nine conceded — good enough for fifth place on LaLiga's table as of 20 September.

Spain's association coefficient earned the league a fifth automatic Champions League berth this season, on top of the usual four, so a side sitting fifth after seven rounds is inside that group, not chasing it. It has not been one-way traffic — the two defeats came against Atlético Madrid and Barcelona, the clubs currently second and first — but the results either side of those two losses, wins over Athletic Club, Valencia and Deportivo plus the draw at Espanyol, are what carried Sevilla above sides like Alavés and Villarreal in the table.

Rayo's choppier return to mid-table

Rayo Vallecano's run since that Sunday has been less settled. They drew 1-1 at home with Alavés five days later, were beaten 2-5 away at Barcelona, then won back-to-back matches — 3-2 at home over Racing Santander and, after a 1-4 defeat away at Real Madrid, 2-1 at home over Espanyol — before drawing 1-1 away at Osasuna on 19 September. Two wins, two draws and three losses from seven games leaves them on eight points, 11 scored and 16 conceded, in 10th place.

Eight points is enough to sit clear of trouble: Rayo are three points above 18th-placed Elche, the first club inside LaLiga's three relegation berths this season. It also leaves them three points behind sixth-placed Alavés, the closest thing to a Europa League place, and level on points with both Villarreal and Athletic Club just above them — the kind of tight, single-result gap that has separated most of the mid-table since matchday 1.