First Division - Day 28

Sevilla 1 - Xerez 1

Sevilla: Palop; Stankevicius, Fazio, Dragutinovic, Fernando Navarro; Zokora (Kanouté 44'), Romaric (Lolo 67'); Perotti (José Carlos 23'), Renato, Adriano; Negredo. 4-2-3-1.
Xerez: Renan; Víctor Sánchez, Gioda, Aythami, Casado (Antoñito 88'); Alex Bergantiños (Michel 80'), Keita; Momo, Viquiera (Carlos Calvo 68'), Orellana; Mario Bermejo. 4-2-3-1.

Goals:
1-0. 63. Kanouté (penalty). After Keita brought down Adriano inside area.
1-1. 91. Gioda. Fired shot past Palop after long throw not cleared.

Yellow cards: Gioda 44', Casado 69'.

Sevilla could only draw 1-1 with struggling neighbours Xerez on Tuesday night, a result which cost the job of coach Manuel Jiménez. The Andalusians had dropped out of the Champions League spots after a run of poor results, and they desperately needed a win to get their season back on track. Adriano went close early on, but Mario Bermejo could have put the visitors ahead soon after the restart when he intercepted a bad Stankevicius back pass and rounded Palop only for his shot to go wide. Midway through the second half the locals took the lead with a Kanouté penalty after Keita tripped Adriano in the area, but with the game coming to an end Gioda drilled home the equaliser after the defence failed to clear a long throw. A few hours later Jiménez was history, with Luis Aragonés, Laudrup and Schuster the favourites to take over.