3 reasons why Barcelona won against Sevilla

Barcelona overcame a poor run of form in LaLiga to beat Sevilla 4-2 in an exciting match at the Camp Nou on Saturday. This win lifts Barcelona on top of the table with 18 points after nine matches.

The win came as a morale booster for Barcelona, who have a tough week ahead that includes a midweek clash in the Champions League against Inter Milan and El Clasico next Sunday. Sevilla, who defeated Real Madrid a couple of weeks ago, came agonizingly short in a crucial match like this.

Phillipe Coutinho opened the scoring for Barcelona in the 2nd minute with a beautiful pass from Lionel Messi. The Argentine doubled the lead in the 20th minute from a superb pass of Luis Suarez.

Barcelona increased their lead when Sevilla goalkeeper Tomas Vaclik brought Suarez down within the box. The Uruguayan made no mistake from the spot. Pablo Sarabia got himself on the score sheet when his sumptuous strike from just outside the box deflected off Clement Lenglet and surged into the back off the net.

Ivan Rakitic also scored against his former team with an exceptional volley right from the edge of the area to put the game beyond Sevilla’s control. However, Luis Muriel reduced the deficit again when his low curler thudded into the net.

One major concern for Barcelona coach Ernesto Valverde will be Leo Messi, who injured his right arm and had to be substituted in the 20th minute. Barcelona have some tough fixtures ahead and it needs to be seen how Messi recovers from his injury.

Let us look at the three reasons that made Barcelona the winning team on Saturday:

Ter Stegen leads ‘Team Barcelona’

What happens when you lose World’s Best player on 20th minute in a crucial match like this? Ask any of the Blaugrana players who faced Sevilla, they will answer.

Messi, who was sublime right from the start, had to leave the field in excruciating pain on his right arm after an awkward landing against a clash with Franco Vazquez. Without their talisman, Barcelona looked clueless in the first half. They somehow defended and hadn’t allowed Sevilla to reduce the margin.

The scenario changed in the second half. Barca started to play as a team, and Suarez was seen taking more responsibility in creating chances. Coutinho assisted the Uruguayan and Ousmane Dembele, who replaced Messi, showed some glimpses of his talent.

But one major reason why Barcelona came out unscathed is surely because of Marc Andre Ter Stegen. The German goalkeeper made two double saves to deny Sevilla two certain goals.

First in the 61st minute, when Andre Silva made a pinpoint header towards goal which was saved by Ter Stegen’s stretched hand and he subsequently saved the rebound off Arana. This was before the third goal of Barcelona and the context of the game would’ve changed had Sevilla scored at that time. Ter Stegen did it again in 86th minute when he stopped Sarabia’s powerful shot with his left hand put his body on the line of Ben Yedder’s shot, who pounced the rebound.

The German custodian may not keep a clean sheet, but he is definitely the reason why Barcelona came out with all three points.

Sevilla got it too late

Against another Spanish giant Real Madrid, Sevilla had killed the game within 39 minutes with three goals. But they knew the job wouldn’t be that easy against Barcelona, who are one of the most formidable team defensively.

Sevilla’s main weapon is their counter-attacking ability. Whenever they get the ball, at least four of them runs towards opponent’s half and one of them gets the job done. But Barcelona defenders somehow kept them under check, allowing no chance to pounce on the counter-attack. Pique stood in the central defense like a rock and Clement Lenglet was his able deputy.

Jordi Alba couldn’t cope with the pace of his Spanish teammate Jesus Navas, and let some balls slip into the box. But a rock-solid Barcelona defense thwarted every challenge. Andre Silva, who already has seven goals with his name in LaLiga, was a big under-performer of the night. Apart from a header, he couldn’t do anything else to get his team out of the trouble. Another under-achiever was Wissam Ben Yedder.

Sevilla smeledt blood in the last ten minutes and got two goals. If they had shown the same intensity earlier, the result might have been different.

16 minutes enough for Messi

Lionel Messi had to prove something. After missing his national duty with Argentina, many were questioning about the Argentine’s motivation to play for his country. He had to silence all the criticisms. And it took only 20 minutes for him to do that.

In the 2nd minute, when many of the Barcelona fans hadn’t even taken their seat, Messi provided a lethal pass to Coutinho, who calmly finished with his first touch.

The ‘moment of the day’ came in the 12th minute when Suarez found Messi on the right flank. The Barcelona legend made a darting run towards the goal and superbly finished it off with a fine placement. Probably no defender in the world could stop Messi once he runs like that.

Barcelona fans were preparing for another goal spree, keeping the Super Cup final in mind, which Barcelona won 5-0 against the same opponent.

Everything came to a halt when Messi fell on the pitch in the 16th minute after a clash with Vazquez. It looked like a serious blow on his right arm. Team doctors tried their best to fit the Argentine by wrapping up bandage on his right arm, but the injury was serious. Messi had to leave the field with a standing ovation from the Camp Nou. They knew he had done enough within a small time.

The team later announced that Messi had a fracture of the radial bone of right arm and will be out for three weeks.

Edited by Deepanshu Sharma