Sevilla were made to sweat for their first Champions League win as they survived a succession of missed chances to beat Lyon 1-0 on Tuesday.
An end-to-end first half saw an Alexandre Lacazette-less Lyon almost take the lead through Nabil Fekir, whose curler from the edge of the box rattled the crossbar, before Anthony Lopes smothered to deny Luciano Vietto.
However, Sevilla had Sergio Rico to thank as Lyon had the better of the chances, the goalkeeper tipping over Maciej Rybus’ drive, using his legs to frustrate Maxwel Cornet from close range and keeping out Fekir at full stretch.
The Andalusians drew confidence from their ability to stay in the match eight minutes into the restart, Steven N’Zonzi squaring to Vietto, whose header across goal was followed in by Wissam Ben Yedder for the new boy’s first-ever European goal.
Corentin Tolisso looked to build on his burgeoning reputation with an instant reply, but Rico managed to palm his prodded finish away, although the goalkeeper could only watch on as the midfielder’s subsequent drive swerved onto the bar.
Sevilla then had the opportunity to secure the victory when Samir Nasri was hauled down by Jordi Gasper in the box, but Vietto blazed his penalty over and went on to miss two one-on-ones, the latter of which was cleared off the line by Jeremy Morel.
Sevilla 1-0 Lyon
Ben Yedder 52
Sevilla: Rico; Mariano, Mercado (Kolo 87), Pareja, Escudero; N'Zonzi; Nasri, Vazquez (Sarabia 59), Vitolo; Vietto, Ben Yedder (Sarabia 82)
Lyon: Lopes; Gaspa (Ghezzal 79)r, Mapou (Valbuena 70), Nkoulou, Morel, Rybus; Darder, Gonalons, Tolisso; Cornet, Fekir (Kalulu 70)
Referee: Nijhuis [NED]
