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Barcelona recorded a narrow 2-1 win over Sevilla courtesy of Paco Alcacer's brace to maintain their 4-point lead at the summit of the La Liga table. The Blaugrana have had a near perfect start to the season, despite losing Neymar to Paris Saint-Germain earlier in the summer.
Alcacer proved to be the unlikely hero, as he netted in either half to hand the win to Ernesto Valverde's side. Guido Pizarro scored the only goal for the Seville outfit and forced Barcelona to be on the back foot, at least for a little while.
Let's take a look at the major talking points from the feisty encounter:
#1 Barcelona are in crisis, really?
In August, nothing was going according to plan for Barcelona. They had lost one of the best players in the world in the form of Neymar to Paris Saint-Germain and had suffered back-to-back defeats against arch-rivals Real Madrid in the Spanish Super Cup, which led to the talks of the decline of Messi's Barcelona once again.
More than two and a half months later and you would be forced to believe that nothing was ever wrong in Catalunya.
In the 16 games played across all competitions since THAT loss to Real Madrid at the Santiago Bernabeu, Barcelona have won 14, while having drawn the remaining two games, and not just that, they have swept aside teams in this time period with relative ease.
Such has been the impressive form the Camp Nou outfit that they have equalled their best ever start to a La Liga season, having accrued 31 points from their first 11 games - a feat that they had previously managed in 2012/13 and 2013/14.
While this has much to do with the brilliance of Lionel Messi, who has played like a man possessed, credit is due to the entire team and especially the manager, for first stabilizing the ship in turbulent times and then steadily driving it forward.
While the crisis talks were not exactly premature back then, they certainly seem that way now as the Catalan outfit are simply cruising, grinding out hard-fought wins every now and then. It has come to a point where one would be forgiven to believe that everything was always fine at Barcelona.
#2 Sevilla were punished for being reactive
More often than not, in the world of football, the difference between 3 points, a point and none is how well a team is set up to counter the challenges that it will face in the 90 or so minutes spent on the football pitch.
Sevilla, at least for the better part of the first half, were too reactive - rather than being proactive - and this allowed the Barcelona players, especially Lionel Messi, to get into their stride and cause all sorts of trouble.
Eduardo Berizzo's side had the perfect ploy to stretch the Catalan giants' defence and make things uncomfortable for Valverde's side, but it was the application of this plan, which was mostly in patches, that ended up costing the Seville outfit a few valuable points.
The Andalusian side had pace in attack coupled with strength and dynamism in midfield, a combination which has worked wonders against Barcelona in the past, but it was the reactive nature of their football which proved to be their undoing.
On another day, had Sevilla been a little more proactive in their approach, things could have been very different. And this sets us up for a very exciting reverse fixture at the home of the Seville outfit in the second half of the season.
#3 Paco Alcacer - the unlikely hero!
Paco Alcacer's Barcelona career has looked to be over for a while now. His dismal goalscoring form since his arrival from Valencia last summer, coupled with the arrival of Ousmane Dembele and the resurgence of Gerard Deulofeu, has all signalled towards an early departure from Camp Nou from the Spaniard.
It wouldn't have been wrong if someone claimed that the Spaniard was due to be offloaded in the upcoming two transfer windows.
However, the same cannot be said, at least with the same degree of conviction, after last night.
Luis Suarez's powers have been on the wane for a while now and that is evident with his paltry return of 3 goals this season in 14 appearances. The Uruguayan is 30 and is only getting older, forcing Barcelona to look for his successor, earlier than what many would have been expected.
Alcacer may not be the straight-forward answer, but at least, he is an option, especially after last night. The brace by the Spaniard was probably the first time in Blaugrana colours that Alcacer has had a telling impact on the result of the game and not only will the performance give him some much-needed confidence, it might also afford him an extended run in the side - which gives him yet another opportunity to salvage something from what looked like a lost battle.
Barcelona need someone to ease the goalscoring burden on Lionel Messi and after last night, they might have found an option in Alcacer.
#4 Sevilla can push for a Champions League spot
Considering that Sevilla finished 4th last season, it really isn't the boldest prediction that one can come up with. However, a lot has changed at the Ramón Sánchez Pizjuán outfit in one year.
Last year, Jorge Sampaoli's side were in the reckoning for the league title and were considered as dark horses in the race for La Liga. They did end up finishing 4th but that was down to the rather abysmal form that they exhibited towards the second half of last season.
Since the departure of Sampaoli and a few key names, Eduardo Berizzo has had the task of stabilizing the ship and guiding the team onwards and upwards and to his credit, he has done a decent job so far.
If Berizzo is able to keep his squad fresh and make the best use of it, the Seville outfit may be seen fighting for a top-four finish. Hell, they might even compete with Atletico Madrid for the coveted 3rd spot.
#5 Lionel Messi's 600th
Lionel Messi made his landmark 600th appearance for Barcelona last night, making him only the third player in the club's history after Xavi and Andres Iniesta to have achieved this feat.
And last night, like any other was filled with moments of magic from the diminutive Argentine. The Camp Nou outfit, who have grown to adorn their Messiah, were treated with a near-perfect display from the 5-time Ballon d'Or winner.
There was this spell just before half-time when Messi just wasn't in the mood to give the ball to anyone and for a period of roughly 40 seconds just dribbled with the ball in and around the Sevilla box.
There was that exquisite pass to Deulofeu, the occasional drop of the shoulder and then the arrogance to take on SIX Sevilla players, yes SIX, before laying it off for Luis Suarez.
There is no doubt that Messi will go down as one of the greatest to have ever graced the game - if not the greatest. And with that, I would like to take the opportunity to reiterate the words of a famous manager.
"Don't write about him, don't try to describe him, just watch him play."
