Denis Suarez's late strike has given Sevilla a 2-1 win against Zenit St Petersburg in this evening's Europa League quarter-final first leg at the Estadio Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan.
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The hosts were quickest off the starting blocks as Jose Antonio Reyes fired over the bar from a fifth-minute free kick.
Zenit picked themselves up as the game went on and threatened on a number of occasions, most notably through Alexander Anyukov and Aleksandr Ryazantsev.
Andre Villas-Boas's charges eventually broke the deadlock when Ryazantsev charged into the box on the half-hour mark and lashed an effort from a tight angle past goalkeeper Sergio Rico.
Sevilla set about trying to level proceedings but, save for tentative efforts from Kevin Gameiro and Vicente Iborra, there was little to threaten the Russians by the half-time whistle.
The second half took a while to get into gear as the action was broken up by a myriad of challenges and fouls, the first effort not coming until just before the hour when Ryazantsev fired over.
Axel Witsel was next to threaten for the visitors, but the next goal in the game would fall to Sevilla, as Aleix Vidal's cross was nodded home by Carlos Bacca.
Unai Emery's charges were in the ascendency by this point and continued to push forward until they duly eked themselves into the lead with two minutes to play, Stephane M'Bia's headed flick-on fired home by Suarez.
Zenit couldn't pick themselves up following this late setback and had to fend off more efforts in injury time as the hosts set up a good springboard for themselves ahead of the second leg in St Petersburg next week.
Giuseppe Labellarte
