Sevilla’s season took another ugly turn on Sunday, April 26, when they lost 2-1 away to Osasuna in a result that left them stuck in the La Liga relegation zone, while Elche walked out of Oviedo with a precious 2-1 win that could prove massive in the final stretch. With five rounds left for most teams, the bottom of the table is getting tight, tense, and a little cruel.
At El Sadar, Sevilla actually looked like they might finally catch a break. Neal Maupay put them ahead in the 68th minute, and for a while it felt like the visitors had found the one thing they badly needed: control. It didn’t last. Raúl García de Haro equalised in the 79th, Osasuna kept coming, and Alejandro Catena headed in the winner in the 98th minute. That last goal, deep into stoppage time, turned a survival bid into another collapse.
And that’s the part that really hurts Sevilla. This wasn’t just another defeat on paper. It was the kind that messes with a team’s head. They were in front, under pressure, and still couldn’t see it out. EL PAÍS described scenes of devastated players and supporters after the final whistle, which tells you plenty about the mood around the club right now. Sevilla are 18th with 34 points from 33 matches, one point from safety, but the bigger problem may be the sense that everything is fraying at once.
Osasuna, meanwhile, are looking in the other direction. The win lifted them to 42 points, giving them breathing room and extending a strong run at home. It may not have been a polished afternoon for long stretches, but it was a mature one in the end. Alessio Lisci praised his side for staying calm in difficult moments, and honestly, that composure was the difference once Sevilla began to wobble.
A few hours earlier, Elche delivered the sort of performance that can change the mood of an entire run-in. They beat Real Oviedo 2-1 at the Carlos Tartiere, with Pedro Bigas scoring early and Gonzalo Villar adding a second before Oviedo pulled one back through Ilyas Chaira in the second half. Elche then had to survive late pressure and even finished the game with 10 men after Germán Valera was sent off at the end. It wasn’t pretty by the finish, but nobody at Elche will care much about that.
Those three points pushed Elche up to 13th on 38 points, a useful cushion compared with where they were not long ago. Real Oviedo, on the other hand, remain bottom on 28 points after 33 matches, and time is running thin. The table around them is still crowded enough for swings to happen quickly, but this was a chance for Oviedo on home ground, and they let it slip.
So the relegation fight now has a sharper edge. Sevilla are 18th with 34 points, Levante are 19th with 32 points but have played one game fewer, and Oviedo are 20th with 28. Just above the drop, Mallorca sit 17th on 35 points, while Elche’s win moved them clear to 38. That gap is not enormous, but it matters. A single weekend has made Sevilla’s margin for error feel almost nonexistent.
What makes Sevilla’s situation so striking is that this isn’t some anonymous struggler stumbling through spring. This is a club with history, weight, and expectation. Yet right now none of that is helping. The remaining fixtures may still offer a route out, especially with three home games left according to EL PAÍS, but the pressure has become suffocating. One more setback like this and the conversation may shift from “can they stay up?” to “how did it come to this?”
