A 97th-minute penalty from Peque Fernandez completed a 2-1 comeback victory for Sevilla over Rayo Vallecano on the opening night of the new LaLiga season, extending their impressive recent head-to-head record to just one defeat in their last 22 meetings (W13, D8).

Kick-off at the Ramon Sanchez-Pizjuan was delayed due to a fault with the new football being used, as LaLiga became the first league to introduce Connected Ball Technology. Following the unusual false start, the match eventually got underway without the technology being used.

Once play began, Rayo Vallecano made a perfect start, taking the lead inside the opening four minutes after a costly defensive error from Sevilla.

A mix-up between Arouna Sangante and Odysseas Vlachodimos on the edge of the box allowed Alvaro Garcia to win possession before calmly poking the ball into an unguarded net.

Sevilla, who narrowly avoided relegation by a single point in a dramatic battle last season, struggled to respond and failed to register a shot on target during the opening 45 minutes.

A slow opening period finally burst into life late in the first half, with Rayo Vallecano seeing an Isi Palazon header ruled out for a foul in the build-up.

Less than 10 minutes later, the visitors were handed another scare when Sevilla were awarded a penalty after Augusto Batalla collided with Isaac Romero inside the box. However, referee Ricardo de Burgos overturned his decision following a VAR review.

Sevilla needed a strong response after the break and came out with much greater intensity. The hosts quickly made two penalty appeals, with the second resulting in a spot-kick after Miguel Sierra was brought down in the area by Alvaro Garcia.

Jon Guridi stepped up and confidently converted the penalty, sending the ball into the bottom-right corner to mark his Sevilla debut with a goal.

With all the momentum from their equaliser, Sevilla were unable to build on their advantage as Rayo defended resolutely and absorbed the pressure. The visitors also struggled to reproduce their attacking threat from the first half, failing to register a shot on target after the break.

Sevilla were reduced to 10 men late in the match when Kike Salas was shown a straight red card for a reckless challenge on Jorge de Frutos.

Rayo looked set to take advantage of their numerical superiority, but instead Sevilla struck on the counter-attack. The hosts were awarded their third penalty of the night after Florian Lejeune brought down Robbie Ure inside the box.

Peque stepped up and emphatically converted the spot-kick, sealing all three points for Sevilla and securing their first victory on the opening weekend of a LaLiga season since 2021/22.