Sevilla 4 Levante 1: Fabiano treble sinks Levante

Posted Saturday, January 22, 2011 by PA

Luis Fabiano scored a hat-trick as Sevilla continued their improved form with a convincing 4-1 victory over struggling Levante at the Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan.

Two goals from Luis Fabiano and another from Julien Escude put Sevilla 3-0 up by half-time and, although Levante pulled a goal back through Xisco Munoz in the 58th minute, Luis Fabiano competed his treble 10 minutes later to wrap up the scoring.

Sevilla's triumph followed their 3-0 midweek win over Villarreal, which secured the Andalusian side's place in the semi-finals of the Copa del Rey.

It also means they have won six of eight competitive matches since their dismal pre-Christmas run, where they recorded six defeats and a draw in seven games.

For Levante, this was a fifth successive league defeat and they remain rooted in the Primera Division's bottom two.

Luis Fabiano, who earlier this month became only the fifth Sevilla player to reach 100 goals in official matches for the club, served Levante a warning in the 16th minute when he escaped his marker at a corner and brought an excellent diving save out of Manuel Reina with a downward header.

Reina was left powerless 11 minutes later, though, as the Brazilian broke the deadlock with a superb header from almost the edge of the box that flew over the Levante stopper.

Another header saw Sevilla double their lead in the 37th minute, Escude getting to Ndri Romaric's inswinging corner ahead of Reina to nod the ball into the roof of the net.

Six minutes after that Sevilla all but wrapped the points up as Luis Fabiano made it 3-0 from the penalty spot after Levante defender Javi Venta was adjudged to have dragged down Fernando Navarro.

Levante gave themselves a brief glimmer of hope when they reduced the deficit through Xisco, who latched onto Felipe Caicedo's throughball before firing a rising shot past Andres Palop, but Sevilla soon restored their three-goal lead thanks to that man Luis Fabiano.

The South American created space for himself on the edge of the area, albeit with the help of a fortunate run of the ball as he looked to cut inside Hector, before firing a 20-yard shot into the bottom corner for his eighth league goal of the campaign.