Sevilla have issued a club statement disagreeing with the authorities decision to reschedule their Copa del Rey clash with Real Betis for 16:00 CET this afternoon at the Benito Villamarin.
The game was supposed to take place last night but was suspended in the 39th minute after a supporter struck Sevilla midfielder Joan Jordan in the head with a missile.
The score was 1-1 at that point. Papu Gomez had opened the scoring for Sevilla before Nabil Fekir equalised directly from a corner kick. It was in the aftermath of Fekir’s goal that Jordan was struck. Jordan will be unavailable to play through concussion.
Sevilla made an appeal to postpone the game further given Jordan is unavailable to play, but the Appeals Committee, made up of three members, dismissed their appeal.
Both clubs share the same city, of course, as well as one of the most heated rivalries in Spanish football. They’ll be playing for a place in the quarter-final of the Copa del Rey.
“A missile” . . . I don’t understand why anyone writing about this indefensible action on the part of a Betis fan, doesn’t correctly describe this missile as what it actually was . . . a 3-foot length of 3/4 inch plastic pipe, broken from the staff of one of the large Betis flags waving before the game commenced. For the Sevilla player to feign a serious, concussion like injury, is a farce, and for Sevilla to oppose finishing the game on Sunday because they are holding out Jordan, claiming a serious injury, is again part of the masquerading of fake injuries throughout La Liga games, which is a serious detriment to the game overall.