(Reuters) – Sevilla were made to suffer by basement club Huesca but thanks to the heroics of goalkeeper Bono they held on for a 1-0 home win in La Liga on Saturday, their ninth consecutive victory in all competitions.
Forward Munir El Haddadi headed home a cross from Oliver Torres to break the deadlock for the hosts in the 57th minute but it took two outstanding saves from Bono to preserve their advantage.
The Moroccan first made a jaw-dropping save to keep out a header by Huesca forward Rafa Mir from point-blank range while in the 89th minute he parried an effort from Sergio Gomez and then got up to prevent Mir netting on the rebound.
“Bono played a blinder, he has saved us on plenty of occasions today and it’s thanks to him we were able to get the three points we wanted so badly,” said Munir.
A fifth straight league win took Sevilla into third in the standings on 45 points, nine behind leaders Atletico Madrid and two ahead of fourth-placed Barcelona, who are in action at home to Alaves later on Saturday.
Huesca stay bottom with 16 points after another tireless display against a top side yielded little reward following last week’s 2-1 defeat to Real Madrid.
Sevilla meanwhile head into Wednesday’s Champions League last-16 first leg at home to Borussia Dortmund teeming with confidence.
Julen Lopetegui’s side had pulled off a 2-0 win over Barcelona in a Copa del Rey semi-final first leg on Wednesday but the coach warned that the game with Huesca would be his side’s hardest of the campaign so far.
“These games are always very difficult, we knew exactly what was at stake for them and that they were always going to play at 100% and so we’d have to play at 200%,” added Munir.
“Every player did great today, we didn’t relax at any moment and that’s what we need to do if we want to stay near the top of the table.”
(Reporting by Richard Martin; Editing by Toby Davis)
