Jordi swoops to deny Muslin

A second-half strike from Jordi López earned Sevilla FC a narrow one-goal advantage in their UEFA Cup Round of 32 tie away to FC Lokomotiv Moskva as Slavoljub Muslin endured a disappointing debut in charge of the Russian side.

Lokomotiv debutants
Jordi bundled the ball across the line with just 13 minutes remaining, touching a right-wing corner beyond the reach of Aleksei Poliakov. It capped an impressive second-half performance from the visitors, who had been forced to soak up much early pressure from the Russian side as Muslin's men made light of a number of injuries. The coach gave debuts to Winston Parks and Laryea Kingston and the latter was soon into his stride in a five-man midfield, but it was the visitors that threatened first.

Kanouté opening
Frédéric Kanouté was sent through by Jesús Navas on 12 minutes but with only the goalkeeper to beat he sliced his effort well wide. Lokomotiv quickly regained the initiative, but without the injured Dmitri Sychev, they struggled to break down the Spanish side's defence, superbly marshalled by the assured Daniel. As the half wore on, Sevilla gradually began to impose themselves in attack too, with Adriano Correia a menace on the left wing.

Lebedenko introduced
Lokomotiv scored four goals in each of their last two group games to edge through to the knockout stages, and Muslin introduced one of the architects of that revival at the interval as Igor Lebedenko replaced Parks. But it was Sevilla's Brazilian striker Luis Fabiano who rose to prominence after the restart, heading a looping cross just wide before rifling fractionally over following a mazy run through the heart of the home side's defence just before the hour.

Woodwork intervenes
The 25-year-old almost made it third time lucky on 63 minutes when he ghosted behind the defence and struck a well-hit effort that Poliakov did well to turn on to the post. The goalkeeper was powerless to keep out Jordi's effort, however, which ensured that Sevilla take a slender advantage back to Spain.