Holders Sevilla will take a slim advantage to Germany next week after Vicente Iborra's strike handed them a 1-0 win over Borussia Monchengladbach in the first leg of their Europa League last-32 tie.
It was hardly a classic in Andalusia with both sides struggling to create clear-cut chances but Iborra's classy finish in the 70th minute lit up an uninspiring affair.
Fabian Johnson and Oscar Wendt had the best chances for the visitors but they could not find the all-important away goal.
There was a scrappy start with a series of niggly fouls and Gladbach's Tony Jantschke and Granit Xhaka both found themselves in the book inside the first 15 minutes.
The first effort of note did not arrive until the 20th minute when Christoph Kramer fired on goal from 12 yards but Sevilla goalkeeper Sergio Rico was equal to it.
Machin Vitolo then hit a shot wide from the edge of the box at the other end and Jose Antonio Reyes also tried his luck from distance but could not find the target.
Johnson should have given the Germans the lead just after the half-hour but his shot from close-range was brilliantly saved by Rico with Raffael seeing his header from the resulting corner blocked away.
Grzegorz Krychowiak headed wide from a corner for Sevilla and both sides exchanged speculative efforts as the break approached.
The first half had been poor and both teams approached the second with more purpose, Iborra quickly firing wide for Sevilla before Wendt missed the target at the other end when he should have done better.
Reyes saw a shot saved by Yann Sommer and the keeper was called into action again moments later to gather Carlos Bacca's tame header.
Aleix Vidal and Ever Banega both fired wide for the increasingly dominant Spaniards before they took the lead with 20 minutes to play.
Substitute Diogo Figueiras latched onto a long ball and delivered a bouncing cross which Iborra did well to direct across Sommer and in off the far post from 12 yards.
That seemed to spark Gladbach to life and Alvaro Dominguez and Thorgan Hazard fired wide but Sevilla held on.