Sevilla's hopes of landing this season's La Liga title have taken a hit after being held to a 1-1 draw at Alaves on Monday night.
Wissam Ben Yedder sent Sevilla ahead in the 23rd minute of the contest, but Alaves responded 15 minutes from time through Aleksandar Katai as the points were shared in Alava.
Sevilla remain third in Spain's top flight on 56 points - four points behind league leaders Barcelona. Alaves, meanwhile, stay in 11th position and are now 15 points clear of the relegation zone.
It was the visitors that had the first real chance of the match in the fifth minute, but Spain international Vitolo could only fire wide of the post after finding space on the edge of the box.
Sevilla did make the breakthrough in the 23rd minute, however, when Ben Yedder collected a smart pass from Pablo Sarabia before drilling the ball into the bottom corner of the net.
Alaves should have levelled 10 minutes into the second period when Gaizka Toquero found a yard of space inside the Sevilla box, but the experienced attacker could only blaze his effort over the crossbar.
The hosts continued to press, however, and levelled the scores in the 75th minute when Katai fired home from close range after Sevilla failed to clear their lines.
Twice Alaves had chances to claim all three points in the latter stages, but Deyverson rattled the crossbar with a rocket of a strike in the 84th minute, before the forward fired straight at Sevilla goalkeeper Sergio Rico three minutes later as the points were shared on the night.
Matt Law
