La Liga finallly made its return to action after a three-month hiatus due to the Covid-19 pandemic as Sevilla beat city rivals Real Betis 2-0 on Thursday.
Julen Lopetegui's were grateful for the help help of a controversial penalty and a touch of class from Argentine winger Lucas Ocampos.
Ocampos struck the post in the first half before giving Sevilla a deserved lead from the spot in the 56th minute after Betis' Marc Bartra was harshly judged to have fouled Luuk de Jong.
Ocampos produced an outrageous backheel assist for midfielder Fernando to head home six minutes later to seal a win which consolidated Sevilla's push for a Champions League place.
They are third in the standings with 50 points after 28 games while Betis were left in 12th on 33.
Before the game, the video screens at the Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan Stadium played videos of Sevilla fans singing the club's anthem, a longstanding tradition when the supporters are in the stadium. The loudspeakers played team songs after the match as well.
After a minute's silence in memory of those who have died during the pandemic, La Liga returned with some new additions.
A round of applause was played in the 20th minute as part of the “applause to infinity” tribute that the league will promote in every game to honor those fighting the pandemic in Spain.
Sevilla dominated the derby in an empty and eerily quiet stadium which would usually be teeming with colour and noise for the occasion, but the red seats were left bare as fans were barred from attending for safety reasons.
Television broadcasts sought to re-create the experience of a normal match with fans by using simulated crowd noise and images, while Ocampos still saluted the stand behind the goal after breaking the deadlock from the penalty spot.
"I had never played a derby here before and even though the fans are not here I still wanted to honour them and make it feel like they were and show that we are working hard for them," the Argentine said.
Sevilla had been outplaying their neighbours before Bartra was penalised for his challenge on De Jong although the former Barcelona defender was still furious with the decision.
"The penalty was incredible, I was in a position to out-jump De Jong and he jumped into my arms, the Sevilla players weren't even expecting a penalty," Bartra said. "If football is a contact sport you cannot give a penalty for that."
Betis manager Rubi added: "The way we conceded the first goal was difficult to swallow but in general they were better than us."
The streets around the ground were mostly empty as barriers were placed around the stadium to keep fans from gathering. More than 600 police officers and private security agents were summoned to work during the match.
