Sevilla, Deportivo coaches under pressure

Posted Friday, December 21, 2012 by Supersport.com

Pressure increased on Sevilla coach Michel and his Deportivo La Coruna counterpart Jose Luis Oltra when their teams were beaten at Real Sociedad and Espanyol respectively in La Liga on Thursday.

Sevilla, who are 13th, had Coke sent off in the 74th minute and lost 2-1 in San Sebastian, while Depor remained rooted to the bottom of the table after a 2-0 defeat at Espanyol's Cornella El Prat stadium in Barcelona.

Carlos Vela fired Basque club Sociedad ahead in the 18th minute before Gary Medel levelled for the Andalusians four minutes into the second half.

Alberto De La Bella restored the home side's lead in the 69th minute and defender Coke then picked up two yellow cards in quick succession and was dismissed five minutes later.

Espanyol's victory against promoted Depor lifted them out of the relegation places to 16th on 15 points from 17 matches.

They have now drawn three, including a 2-2 stalemate at champions Real Madrid last weekend, and won one in the four games since Javier Aguirre replaced the sacked Mauricio Pochettino as coach.

Simao opened the scoring in the 31st minute when goalkeeper German Lux punched clear only for the Portuguese to send a looping header back over his head into the net and Cristian Stuani snuffed out Depor's hopes in the 88th minute.

Michel was appointed in February to replace the sacked Marcelino and Sevilla, the 2006 and 2007 Uefa Cup winners, ended the season in ninth and failed to qualify for Europe.

Oltra is in his second season in charge after guiding Depor back into top flight when they won the second division last term.

In the earlier kickoff, Levante missed a chance to climb above Malaga and Real Betis into fourth when long-range efforts from Nacho and captain Piti and Franco Vazquez's late strike gave Rayo Vallecano a 3-0 home win.

Levante stay sixth on 27 points, two ahead of Sociedad in seventh and Rayo in eighth.

Unbeaten leaders Barcelona, whose coach Tito Vilanova has temporarily stepped aside to have surgery on his saliva glands, are seeking a 16th win in 17 matches this season when they play at Real Valladolid on Saturday.

Atletico Madrid, nine points adrift in second after losing 4-1 at Barca last weekend, host Celta Vigo on Friday and Real Madrid, a further four points back in third, play at Malaga on Saturday.